Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Jonathan Tsay

Committee Member

Artina McCain

Committee Member

Kevin Richmond

Committee Member

Paulina Villarreal

Abstract

This dissertation documents the collaboration with composer Juan Cardona in reworking the cadenza of his Piano Concerto No. 1, Como el mar espera al río. It provides background on the composer and the concerto, as well as an interview with Cardona, in which his creative process, artistic influences, and compositional strategies are explored. The interview also reveals his views on musical collaboration, performance practices, and personal hopes for the future of the piece. This collaboration offers a detailed view of the decision-making process, demonstrating how ideas evolved throughout the work. In this project, the composer remains the author of the piece, while the performer limits their role to refining compositional ideas without altering the original artistic vision. Emphasis is placed on understanding the cadenza not as a fixed object, but as a dynamic space of exploration. This document also illustrates the dynamic nature of collaboration and avoids the use of the terms pianistic or idiomatic, as they risk oversimplifying the phenomenon. To develop suitable alternative rewritings, the structure and content of the cadenza are analyzed from a performer’s perspective. A detailed exploration of the technical challenges within the cadenza and its motivic development is presented, along with alternatives that offer different hand distributions, new pattern constructions, and refinements in dynamics, articulation, and notation. These alternatives are supported by examples from the piano literature that address similar passages. Particular attention is given to aspects such as ergonomic adaptation, clarity of texture, and motivic integrity, ensuring that technical modifications do not compromise the musical flow. The dissertation also includes a discussion of the considerations behind the final version of the cadenza, illustrating the process of proposing alternatives and the composer's reactions to them. This offers insight into the composer’s priorities, boundaries, and flexibility when collaborating. Finally, this document serves as a reference for future performances of Como el mar espera al río and concludes with practical considerations regarding piano writing. These insights, referencing the alternative reworkings from the concerto’s cadenza, provide non-pianist composers with useful tools to expand their vocabulary when writing for a genre that showcases the piano’s technical and expressive possibilities.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open access

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