Lisa Bielawa (1968-Present)

Introduction
Lisa Bielawa is an American composer from San Diego, California. She moved to New York after she graduated with a degree in Literature from Yale. Her works span may different genres and even locations, some to be performed in the traditional Hall, but some are meant to be observed in public spaces and online mediums as well. She also toured as vocalist for the Philip Glass Ensemble in the 90's. A lot of her inspiration for her work comes from her background of literature.

Work Analysis
The piece of music that i wanted to dive deeper into was "The Trojan Woman". This is a piece in 3 movements each characterizing a different trojan woman, Hecuba, Cassandra, and Andromache. All three of these movements vastly differ from one another. The first, Hecuba, being tender and sweet. The second, Cassandra, is very uptempo and intense. The final, Andromache is a minimal, ambient movement with long held notes and sparse melodies. All three of these women were involved with the story fo the trojan war in some way, shape, or form, and each movement represents the stories of each of these women so perfectly. The main theme of literature is true though this piece as well, where themes of the Iliad come into play. This point of inspiration is clear and well thought out throughout the piece. Giving each of these movements its own mood allows for the character they are describing to come to life right in front of you.

Comparisons
I want to compare this to Easley Blackwood and his experimental work with microtonality. A large majority of Bielawa's piece has a signature style that is tonal in terms of melody but when it comes to harmony and what is actually going on within the music the atonal influence starts to come out. This is similar to Blackwood's music where the music itself is very pleasing to listen do and gives a sense of tonality when in reality it is working against those notions of tonality altogether. It also seems to have influence from Joan Tower where there is a powerful female presence behind how the piece was composed that comes through very vividly.

Observations
I very much enjoyed this piece. There was a little piece of something for everyone, whether you like the traditional tonal styles or more of the experimental side. I learned that the perception fo tonality is more a spectrum rather than just a black or white thing, pieces can use tonality in interesting way to further enhance how the piece develops over time.