Analyzing Michael Finnissy’s Second String Quartet

The aim of this collaborative research is to show the potential for developing interactive strategies for music analysis. This article demonstrates how the wide range of multimedia outputs of Bayley’s research into the processes of composition, rehearsal and performance of Michael Finnissy’s Second String Quartet (2006/2007) can be accommodated by extending Clarke’s “interactive aural” approach, using Cycling 74’s Max/MSP software. The overall objective is to provide a model that can be widely used for research into the creative processes that can subsequently inform music analysis. Traditionally, analysis of Western Classical music has made reference primarily, if not exclusively, to the score, and is presented as a linear written text, illustrated by music examples and charts. The approach developed here directs the activity of music analysis away from a fixed, static text and towards an interactive, multimedia experience evolving from creative and interpretative processes which shape the aural, transient and dynamic qualities of the music. Through the integration of materials resulting from ethnographic study, the software assists the analysis of composer-performer relationships which are particularly under-researched in musicology.