A study of Behzad Ranjbaran's "Seven Passages" with focus on elements of cohesion and diversity

This research project aims to study Behzad Ranjbaran’s “SEVEN PASSAGES”, and investigate the techniques of musical cohesion and diversity. To achieve a thorough understanding of the piece, the harmonic structures, formal design, and the methods of motivic development have been studied. Although the formal structure does not lend itself to the common traditional forms, it is loosely connected to the sonata form. Triads and trichords in general, seventh chords, polychords, twelve-tone aggregate and their progressions are some of the elements that play prominent role in the creation of harmonic/melodic cohesion and diversity. In addition to the title and narrative of the piece which suggest inspirations from Persian literature and culture, the melodic content is also influenced by Persian traditional music. For instance, the second thematic group resembles the mode of Chahargah in a very light texture, alluding to the solo improvisation of traditional musicians of Persian instruments. In addition to modal elements, the composition also features many elements used in tonal music. For example, tertian chord structures are frequently used in the piece without references to tonal centers. The harmonic structures sometimes create a twelve-tone aggregate or quasi aggregate––lacking one or two pitch classes. This particular approach may be seen as one of the modern aspects of the piece. SEVEN PASSAGES has a three-note-motive (B-A#-B) which appears in various forms and plays a pivotal role. Ranjbaran has used two techniques to shape the piece, namely: developing variation and motivic/thematic transformation. The transformation and development of the three-note-motive have been studied and categorized mainly based on rhythmic changes. The main motive has four fragments; each of the first three fragments consist of a single note, forming a lower neighbor motion. The fourth fragment may be added in three different ways: a note often a perfect fourth or a third lower, a neighbor tone often as a triplet, or simply a tied note to the third fragment. The accompanying harmony of the first and third fragments is always the same, and is often a minor or major triad, and less frequently a diminished chord. The second fragment is sometimes a part of the (026), (014), (015), or (016) trichords, and other times is harmonized by diminished, minor, major and augmented triads. (026), in particular, is a subset of the whole tone scale, which is found in some sections of the composition. The root or fifth of the main harmony of the motive almost always remains as a pedal point, functioning as a unifying element. The motivic cell is sometimes fragmented in the process of development in several ways. First, two of the four fragments may be eliminated to make the motive shorter. Second, each note may be presented by a different timbre, and finally, the fragments may be separated by a pause. The study shows how the four-fragment motive is repeated numerous times to create unity and, at the same time, it is transformed in various ways to sound fresh every time it appears.