Texture, Balance, Function: Advanced Analysis, Combining Thomas Goss’ and Henry Brant’s

Styles of Orchestration and Thought

Part 2

You can view Part 1 (an excerpt from Brant’s Concord Symphony, an orchestration of Ives’
Concord Sonata) here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203379920438514&set=gm.664244723697918&t
ype=1&permPage=1

For those who have never watched the Lili Boulanger videos Thomas has on the OO youtube,
he delineates his method of Texture Balance Function in terms of score reading analysis. What
follows is my take on this in conjunction with the method of orchestration and analysis that
Henry Brant delineated in his book ‘Textures and Timbres.’

The work in question is the rejected Alex North score to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was
orchestrated and the recordings conducted by Brant.

I will be analyzing Bones, the main title cue, the version that has the readily available recording.
Specifically bar 18 and to an extent bar 19 is analyzed, revealing a two, maybe three texture
gargantuan tutti. I reveal the balance of the predominating WW4 group towards the end, but
let’s break this down.

The ‘upper’ texture group:

4 fl+vi1+tr 1 = 10 fullness units

4 cl+vi2+tr2 = 10 fu
4 ob+va+tr3 = 10 fu
tr 4 8vb the top line = 4 fu

This group amalgamates to 30/34 fu. It is a mixed unis consisting of a trumpet colored to equal
fullness with each type of wind, with strings adding their touch and overtones -- the string
section being half as full as the 4ww or trumpet.

4 fl = 4fu, strings = 2 fu per section, 1 tr = 4 fu.

Although the total for this texture comes to 30/34fu, we can say each individual line is around 10
fu. There are essentially 4 individual lines in this amalgamate texture group, each line being a
mixed unison due to out-of-group blending and mismatching fullness of strings vs 4ww and 1tr.
The second amalgamate group:

Tr 5 = 4fu, tr 6 = 4fu, horns 1+2 unis double tr 5 (4fu), horns 3+4 unis double tr 6 (4fu). Below
this are trombones 1+2 unis (8fu), trbe 3+4 unis (8fu). Below this euphoniums 1+2 unis (8fu),
tubas 1+2 unis (8fu). Celli - bassi octaves (4fu), Cbsn 1 doubles euphonium, cbsn 2 doubles tba
line (another 2 fu added)

Trumpet 5 and 6 drop out here and there when trombones 1 and 2 split to individual lines rather
than unis. At the same time, horns go a4 to make up for the thickness of at least the tr 5 line,
abandoning the tr 6 line to more clearly hear the heterophony in trbi 1+2 vs 3+4. The bassi also
split to their own line during these moments, giving a bottom end, straight ahead,
four-to-the-floor beat. This amalgamate varies widely in order to bring out certain lines at certain
moments, but is overall a partial tutti texture mixed unis group amalgamate, comprised of
individual lines that are also mixed unisons:

Tr 5+hrns 1+2+celli = 10 fu
Tr 6+hrns 3+4 = 8 fu
Trbe 1+2 = 8 fu
Trbe 3+4 = 8 fu
Ephnm 1+2+cbsn1 = 9 fu
Tba 1+2+cbsn2+bassi = 11 fu

55 fu for this full amalgamate. By bar 19 it changes, losing the cbsns and the bassi. They gain
wooden mallet muted timpani, which is anywhere from 1-3 fu depending on dynamic etc
(averaging to 2 fu). -4 fu but +2 fu is a new amalgamate of 53 fu. The timpani plays it’s own line,
directly attempting to mimic the tba/ephnm lines.

Although the total of this texture is 53-55fu, we can say each line is an average of ~9fu. There
are roughly 6 individual lines that comprise this texture. So we gain 1 new line due to the
tromboni split, lose some thickness in another existing line due to the bassi leaving, and add
thickness in another existing line thanks to the addition of muted/wooden mallet timpani.

Bar 19 has a new amalgamate of Bsn 1+2 - Csbn1+2 + Bassi = 6 fu. This is really only audible
so clearly because it is down so low, serving as the absolute bottom end bedrock. The bassi can
speak faster than the cbsn here (normally winds can speak quicker than strings, only higher up
though). This is why the Bsn/Cbsn don’t have all four quarter notes. At 6 fu, this is a bit thinner
than any other individual line (averaging 9fu in the low brass texture, 10fu in the ww/strings/tr
texture. The next thinnest line is 8fu, mostly the trombone lines.

In reality, things get shakier the lower we go because of overtones, some instruments having
more overtones than others. This bedrock bottom bassline should come across just fine,and if
you are going to have such discrepancies in fullness it’s best to have it in the bass/subbass as
this is where it will be least noticeable. It’s really not until about G6 (the G above the treble staff,
give or take a few semitones depending on instrument, particularly winds and especially flutes)
that you can consider this discrepancy to work to your advantage in the higher end. From
around G1 (the G at the bottom line of the bass clef) til roughly the G6, timbrel fullness
discrepancies become the most apparent.

Any pitched percussion high up above the treble staff (glockenspiel, celesta, xylophone etc) I
assume to be around 4fu in this register, give or take. Piano and harp becomes 1 fu from B5 all
the way down to C2 (the second space in the bass staff). From B1 on down they once again
become 2fu, anything C6 on up 2 fu. Anything from C2-B5 should be in octaves, maybe 5ths or
6ths when writing for these instruments, unless 1fu is actually desired (a line to counterpoint
along with solo string, or solo wind).

Timpani (played without a mute, and with normal mallets) and bass drum are 4fu, just for your
reference (neither of these appear in this bar 18-19 analysis).

The two different cymbals you see at the downbeat of bar 18 are 4fu each, 8fu amalgamate. In
the alternate version of this cue, of which no apparent recording exists, there was just one
cymbal, played with timpani sticks (the second percussionist played snare in this version). I see
no text command for it in this recorded final version, so I’m assuming normal cymbal sticks. The
difference in stick types barely changes the fullness of the cymbals, mostly just modifying the
resonancy of certain regions of the overtones. Sort of like a Q knob on a filter for synths.

So ultimately we have two main textures, with the very bottom end of the 2nd texture becoming
a third, thinner, ‘bassline’ beatkeeper. It’s not quite as thick as other individual lines, but this
works satisfactorily, being the very bottom most line.

There are some moments of heterophony with the trombones, with a trumpet line dropping out
altogether (in fact both 5 and 6 drop out after another couple beats), with the horns going a4 to
make up for at least one trumpet line. This lets the trombone heterephony speak more clearly,
while also highlighting the noble 4 horn unison that has become associated with powerful
romantic and cinematic music.

The upper texture is very band like. Out of context it’s hard to say if Brant/North wanted a
trumpet texture colored by winds and a touch of strings, or a wind texture colored by trumpet
and touched by strings. Here, given the brassiness of the rest of the music, the former seems
more likely.

This is a gargantuan tutti, with 2 clearly separable line groups over a bedrock bassline. The
more instruments, the tougher it tends to be calculating balance for multi-textural tuttis.
Let's look at this group by group, rather than what the instruments are really doing in the score.
Doing things this way afterward will reveal to you decisions on the orchestrator's part, intention,
that may or may not be there on the surface.

WW4 group has the most, 54 fu. This is two tba (8), two euphnm (8), 4 trbi (16), 4 tr(16), and 4
hrns (8). Horns tend to be their own group, WW3, during smooth legato passages, but in these
brassy and short-stabby notes horns are considered WW4.

WW2 has 8 fu (2 bsn, 2 cbsn, 4 ob). WW1 has 8 (4 fl, 4 cl).

Plucked strings is really just 2 harps here, hardly audible and utterly missable at 4 fu (each harp
playes two gliss lines in 4ths across G major, each harp is therefore 2 fu in this register)

Also, the harp would’ve been cranked up in the mix a good deal, since this is film music. They
tended to not use much if any compression back then (Star Wars used none at all), instead
relying on tube gain/saturation to get a driven and more crackling sound, and a bit of light eqing.

Bowed strings are 2 fu each, becoming 1 fu only if there are 3 or less of each (and just 1 solitary
contrabass, as 2 contrabassi are considered 2 fu). Here we have 16 vln 1, 16 vln 2, 12 vla, 10
cel, and 8 cbs. The bowed strings are 10 fu total.

The timpani, typically and historically glued to it’s own idiomatic take on brass lines, is no
different in this cue. Individually, here muted with wooden mallets, it comprises just 2 fu. It adds
rhythmic punch without drowning in reverberated overtones to let the brass speak better. Never
thought you’d see harp and timpani considered roughly equally huh? Timpani is considered part
of the pitched percussion, particularly muted with wooden mallets (more so if played near the
rim as well).

Overall it is clear that the WW4 group is the intended mainstay (open trumpet prototype timbre).
Even the horns tow along in their more WW4 style of brassy playing (ww3 being the smooth
buttery legato open horn prototype timbre). Both ww1 and ww2 are simply there to thicken the
trumpets up above so the individual lines become more saturated (trumpets by themselves
would work here, being audible due to their register. It would however be noticeably thinner than
the lines below). Strings up above help this thickening; celli lending a hand to the middle, low
brass texture; and the bass section of WW2 (bsn and cbsn) help the bass section of the strings
to form the bottom most bedrock of the entire tutti. The bottom bassline is thinner, but
forgiveness is made for being only somewhat thinner, and being that the bassline is the most
imperceptible register for timbrel fullness discrepancies.