In the growing repertoire of ‘mixed’ score-based concert works (works that combine acoustic instruments with electronics), how can we gain a systematic view of patterns of practice in recent composers’ shaping of relations between acoustic instruments and electronics? The research aim has been to answer this question by building an analytical view of patterns of practice in mixed works from composers Kaija Saariaho (1952–), Luciano Berio (1925–2003), Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012) and others; and also to apply such an analytical view in my own compositional practice. Three central research outcomes have emerged as contributions to knowledge: 1. a preliminary typology of these composers’ uses of relations between acoustic instruments and electronics in mixed chamber music works; 2. a related portfolio of original mixed works for various instrumentations with computer; 3. a narrative account of the research process providing the critical basis for future work which could expand the analytical and creative results encoded in the typology. The typology is presented in the form of a catalogue of transformation paths organised in a hierarchy. Narrative description of the process that has generated the typology has emphasised an iterative intertwining of three research strands: 1. analytical interpretations of repertoire; 2. research-based practice; and 3. practice-based research. From a methodological stance, the pivotal analytic tool used is Transformation Analysis adapted from the music analysis approach of David Lewin (1933–2003) [2011a; 2011b]. Analyses of three repertoire pieces in particular: Saariaho’s NoaNoa (1992), Berio’s Altra voce (1999) and Harvey’s Ricercare una melodia (1984) have provided core elements for the typology and these analyses have formed the grounding points for the research. The portfolio of original works has been composed using a substantial input of ideas generated through analysis of these three core works as well as other repertoire; this has resulted in a series of original ‘parodic’ works (in the sense of Linda Hutcheon [2000]) forming the strand of research-based practice. Processes involved in the composition of these portfolio works are examined from both analytical and autoethnographic viewpoints, which form the central part of the practice-based research strand. The intertwining of the three research strands has resulted in a spiralling development of the research project: analyses have fed into compositional processes which in turn have generated more analyses. Through the iterations in the research process a typology has gradually been built, providing an interpretation of patterns of practice of the relations between acoustic instruments and electronics. This typology is specific to the repertoire examined, but the process is investigated with a view towards wider applications
