Supporting analytical tables for: patterns, processes and performance in Chris Newman’s the reason why I am unable to live in my own country as a Composer is a political one (1983-4)

The Reason Why I am Unable to Live in my own Country as a Composer is a Political One is Chris Newman’s first extended duration piano piece. In the more than thirty years since its completion, it has not received the attention that it might be thought to deserve. It represents a significant compositional undertaking, as well as a particular set of performance problems. Thus, the aims of this analysis are twofold: first, to uncover the compositional processes at work in the piece, and second, to arrive at a set of observations about the music that are useful to inform the music’s performance, leading to a performable transcription of the work for organ.

The work’s material is derived from Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5 in Eb, and the relationship of The Reason Why… to this work is considered. However, its compositional processes are further considered as meaningful in and of themselves, and this discourse of materials and processes is framed as a way to understand the work beyond its relationship with Sibelius.

The analytical approach is a semiotic one, largely derived from the work of Jean-Jacques Nattiez. This approach usefully considers the poietic construction of the music on an equal footing to its esthesic meanings in performance; this is important to the consideration of music that currently has no surviving performance artefact.

Lastly, the aesthetic and political dimensions of the music are considered, with reference to its highly evocative title: one that seems as relevant in 2017 as it was for Newman in 1984.