Thea Musgrave (1928-Present)

Introduction
Thea Musgrave is regarded as "one of the most respected and excited contemporary composers in the Western world" Her pieces have been performed all over the world. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1928. She tends to focus on exploring the means of creating drama and dramatics through her music. Some of the pieces she creates are more programmatic than others. One of the less programmatic examples, the Horn Concerto, creates drama throughout the acoustic in the room by having the soloist moving around the orchestra. Because of the fact of being such a highly regarded composer she often gets asked about being a woman composer. She once replied by saying "Yes, I am a woman; and I am a composers. But rarely at the same time"

Work Analysis
With such an expansive repertoire, it is difficult to chose one specific piece to represent Thea. The one I will look into is "Song of the Enchanter" (1990), a commissioned piece by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. This piece is filled with drama, from the ornamentation of the woodwinds to the dynamics of the strings. The theatrical nature of this piece gives it a feeling of coming straight out of a film score. It has it's moments of escaping the realms of tonality, but for the most part gives an illusion of a single tonality by utilizing more pleasant to the ear consonance, only using dissonance sparingly to create even more drama. Although it is only 5 minutes long, it does a fantastic job of showing the dramatic nature of Musgrave's music. It is an enchanting piece that draws you in very early on and then leaves you wanting more after it is over. http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/8416

Comparisons
I would compare parts of this piece to Symphony No. 4 by Shostacovich. It is so brilliantly enticing and dramatic that you cannot help but just be fully invested in what yo are listening to. Musgrave is a great example of a 20th century composer that does not separate herself from the realm of tonality completely, she uses her concepts of tonality to her benefit and to accentuate when she wants to diverge into more post-tonal ideas.

Observations
I enjoyed Song of the Enchanter. It was a nice change of pace after listening to strictly atonal music for a few weeks. It seemed like a piece that would be in a fantasy/scifi movie and definitely brought a large amount of drama, too. It is also rare to hear a completely work that is under 10 minutes longs, so this piece was very easy to digest and contemplate.