The Parameter Complex in the Music of Sofia Gubaidulina

Abstract

Although the music of Sofia Gubaidulina is well known, it has received little analytical attention. Approximately twenty-five years ago her friend and colleague Valentina Kholopova worked out a system for analyzing Gubaidulina’s music. Kholopova shows that the composer usually groups together five so-called expression parameters (EP): articulation and methods of sound production, melody, rhythm, texture, and compositional writing. Moreover, each EP has either a consonant or a dissonant function; rarely does Gubaidulina mix the two functions. These ten parameters—five EPs functioning as either dissonant or consonant expressions—form what Kholopova calls the Parameter Complex in Gubaidulina’s music. In this article I examine these topics, using Gubaidulina’s Concordanza and Ten Preludes for Solo Cello as exemplars.