Continuing this series I am now looking at the second of four movements following the first movement covered in the previous post.
Much like the way that William Walton opened the first movement of his bagatelles, the key that TT is using isn’t defined until bar seven. The Eb that is present from the outset could mean Bb Major or C Melodic but without a note of B present the ambiguity persists. Bar 7 confirms the note is indeed Bb and so the key is Bb Major whilst the simultaneous F# is a move to the relative minor using the G Harmonic minor change of F Mixolydian (+1) = F# Altbb7.
The C# in bar 7 puts the music in the Hungarian minor scale and then we get our first real sequence of changes with the destination of A Melodic b5 in mind:
F# Melodic b4 – F# Melodic – F# Harmonic minor – F# Harmonic minor b5 – A Melodic b5
You can see in this sequence the incremental approach in changing scales, altering one note at a time. The changes are: raise the b4 to Melodic, flatten the 6th to Harmonic, flatten the 5th and then one of TT’s idiosyncratic moves, F# Harmonic minor b5 to A Melodic b5. Here, the composer is altering the same note twice, E# to Eb. Really, it is basically a relative minor to Major change, but with the b5 scales substituted. This is confirmed in the next bar with A Major and then a parallel to relative change:
A Major – A Melodic – C Major – C Melodic
The A Major changes to parallel minor then to the relative major and then parallel minor again. The last line of page one has a subtle sequence, the target being G Major:
C Melodic – C Harmonic minor – C Hungarian minor – C Harmonic Major #4 – G Major
The incremental method once more, b6 - #4 – Maj 3rd – Maj 6th. The Harmonic Major #4 scale always stands out in a sequence as it is obvious in its utility. When the 2nd is flattened in a Major scale, the Harmonic Major #4 scale is heard on a root back a fifth. For example:
C Major – C D E F G A B (flatten 2nd) = F Harmonic Major #4 = F G A B C Db E
The handy thing about knowing how to use the Harmonic Major #4 scale is that you can get from more obscure, altered scales to Major scales quickly by knowing this route. This leads us into page 2, with three sequences culminating in the Melodic b5 scale on three different roots:
1) G Melodic – G Neapolitan Major – G Neapolitan minor – A Neapolitan Major b5 – A Melodic b5
2) Bb Major – A Harmonic Major b5 – D Neapolitan Major – A Harmonic Major – B Melodic b5
3) B Melodic – B Harmonic minor – D Major – D Melodic – D Melodic b5
There follows a prolonged spell in D Melodic b5 then D Neapolitan Major that takes us into the final page. After a repeat of five bars from the sequence in page 1 the penultimate sequence is again heading towards the Melodic b5 scale, this time on E:
A Melodic – G Major – G Melodic – E Harmonic minor b5 – E Melodic b5
Finally, we have our ending. TT does use the Nomadic scale here (no. 25 in the tables) followed by an ingenious use of scale changes:
E Neapolitan Major b5 – F# Nomadic - (C Harmonic Major/E – C Melodic/G – F# Alt nat 7/Bb) x2 – F# Neapolitan minor b4
You can see the repeat of the idea within the brackets, he was obviously very pleased with that sequence. I hope you can now start to grasp the way the composer is using the unusual note changes in creating his unique sound and maybe start to experiment with your own version using some of his ideas. I know I have. Thanks for reading.
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