Rainbow Map Decryption

Due to his unique creative style and profound ideological connotations,Andrzej Panufnik(1914-1991)is famous both in the UK and the whole Western Europe as one of the most outstanding European composers of contemporary music.Following the drastic changes of the social environment,the twentieth-century European music scene has undergone a complete transformation.The previously unshaken position of the traditional classical music has been contested,and replaced while the newly-emerging genres,including experimental and innovative "avant-garde",which soon became a new representative trend.In this cultural context,Panufnik decided not to follow the boosting "avant-garde" current,but instead chose a different path,rooted both in the tradition of Western classical music and the culture of his motherland-Poland.Taking advantage of his inexhaustible source of innovations,he managed to balance on the narrow path between the boundaries of traditional and modern music and created his unique,personalized music vocabulary.In his works,Panufnik combined perceptual emotions and rational logic and expressed his understanding of the modern music,thus opening a unique new field in the Western music.This paper is dedicated to one of the most representative works of Panufnik’s mature period-’Symphony No.9’.It aims to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the aspects such as pitch,timbre,melody and other;based on the shape of rainbow,which has been an inspiration for the framework of the symphony.In ’Symphony No.9’,the composer incorporated the above mentioned elements into a rainbow-shaped diagram,resulting in every element of the work being filled with symmetry.The obtained result has formed a set of sophisticated symmetrical systems,including Panufnik’s famous and unique three-tone chords polarized treatment of melody and accompaniment,multi-level rhythm,symbolic tone configuration and profound included connotations.Due to the integration of two various pitch systems,the work combines straightforwardness of classical music with the abstraction and tension of modern music.All in all,’Symphony No.9’ presents the unique artistic position and superb control of creative skills of its creator.This paper consists of seven chapters.Following the introduction,the first chapter introduces Panufnik’s life background,his representative works and creative style.The second to sixth chapters,which constitute the main body of the thesis,aim to discuss the orchestration,melody,pitch and other technical aspects in detail.Finally,the conclusion summarizes the composer’s style and skills used in the rainbow-shaped diagram and puts forward the author’s views and insights.The appendix is an extension of the thesis,briefly reviewing Panufnik’s duality balance and the evolution of his symphony’s creation.