Contrary to what its name suggests, For Béla was not originally intended to pay homage to Bartók. The title was given after the completion of the piece in light of the increased reliance on the Axis theory of Ernő Lendvai, a musical concept used to analyze the music of Béla Bartók. Axis theory manifests itself most clearly in the piece’s growing insistence on diminished harmonies as the climax approaches as well as the determination of pitch centers across the piece. Interestingly, the piece’s ending pays homage to another pillar of the 20th century: Igor Stravinsky. The ending texture is directly derived from Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments.
The piece is built from two melodic ideas. The first is the descending tetrachord figure first heard at the beginning in the clarinet. The second is first heard in the bass voices and composes out a diminished harmony. The piece’s structure arises as these two melodic ideas, particularly the tetrachord figure, are set in a number of contrasting textures. These various settings amount to brief “scenes” or “images” that often end with a brief eruption of energy before settling down into a new scene. At the climax the two melodic ideas are combined, building tension until a moment of extreme dissonance and amplitude dissolves into a coda section modeled after the Stravinsky.
The mock-up presented here was made using the East/West Symphonic Sample Library. This was my first time doing an orchestral mock-up.