Monody for piano and live electronics (1971–72) Roger Smalley

Forming part of the repertoire of Intermodulation, a new music, live-electronic performance group founded by Smalley and Tim Souster, Monody continued Smalley’s exploration of the use of live electronic modulation. The piano part is limited to a single ‘monodic’ line throughout, to allow the ring modulation to function clearly as a structural technique. The pianist also plays percussion instruments to provide colour and rhythmic clarity, reinforcing the ring-modulated piano. Simon Emmerson describes the work as unitary in form as every section emerges from a single musical idea generated from a chord based on the harmonic series. This is heard after a brief Stockhausen-like introduction which has similarities to the interruptions heard in 3 Studies in Black and White. The Fibonacci series and post-serial techniques of expansion, inversion and permutation guide the works’ structure and increasingly driving virtuosity. An article by Adam Pinto and Ashley Smith has re-examined the work applying Moment Form principles to an investigation of archival sources including early drafts, compositional sketches, revised performance scores, and BBC recordings of early performances given by the composer.