7. Harmony
A harmonic structure for the piece was sketched out early on in the composition process. It was written in an instinctive fashion, but guided by music theory, or rather the avoidance of basic theory. For example, each section of the music starts in a clear key, but then chords outside of that key are regularly used. This technique has become popular over the last century, and an advanced harmonic style gives the Fantasia much of its character. Although written instinctively, every chord was carefully chosen, either to complement a melodic line, create tension and release, or to modulate between keys.
In addition to the basic major, minor, augmented and diminished chords, many extended chords have been used in the composition. The use of the these chords is largely inspired by jazz standards. After listening to these compositions, it becomes clear that specific types of chord can suggest different feelings/moods, as well as helping to modulate between keys. A few examples of extended chords and their usage within the Fantasia are given below.
6/9 chord - A harmonious and majestic chord. Figure 33 shows how an F6/9 chord is produced through a combination of pentatonic notes at bar 7.
Figure 33. Example of a 6/9 chord
m(maj7) chord - Discordant, dramatic and suspenseful. Figure 34 gives an example of these chords, along with other minor chords.
Figure 34. Discordant harmony from bars 210-213
#11/ #9 chords - Discordant, suspenseful and they demand resolution. Figure 35 shows the usage of these chords from bars 267 - 269 of the Fantasia. In this example, the D#7(#9) chord resolves to C#m9, followed by a suspension on A9(#11) that resolves to A9. The suspensions in the composition are typically not held for longer than a couple of beats. Long suspensions would not work as effectively when used in combination with the melodic lines.
Figure 35. Suspensions using #11/#9 chords
Many of the main themes are repeated during the composition, but the harmony is different every time. The Ōshikichō theme provides a good example of this harmonic variation. Figure 36 shows the harmony of this theme in a simplified form.
Figure 36. Simplified Ōshikichō theme harmony
This is a basic chord progression, and to fit better with the style of the Fantasia and its Japanese influences, these basic chords were altered by adding additional intervals (figure 37).
Figure 37. Ōshikichō theme harmony at bar 54
The harmony continues to change for each repeat, generally getting more complex each time. For the final repeats of the main theme, there are many more chord changes, as well as a pedal on the note G (see figure 38). This creates a very broad feel to this section, as the bass note never settles firmly on the tonic, giving openness and expansiveness.
Figure 38. Ōshikichō theme harmony at bar 342
Pivot chords are used frequently to ‘chain’ chords together and to set up modulations to other keys. For example, at bars 4 - 5 (see the reduction in figure 39), the note D in the violins is common to the first four chords. The harmony here was composed by taking chords with a D at the top, and then changing the other notes very slightly to create a smooth modulation.
Figure 39. Pivot chords in bars 4-5. Common notes between the chords are connected with arrows
As this piece was composed in sections (which were often in different keys), harmonic modulations and transitional sections were crucial to linking the piece together. The main themes (Ōshikichō and Ichikotsuchō) are in A minor and D major as suggested by the Japanese scales that they use. However, many of the other sections are in various keys, which were dictated by the instinctive flow of the composition process. This is one reason why no key signature has been used. This occasionally meant that when the music was ready to feed back into a section that had already been composed, the differences in key would prevent the sections from merging. In some cases this problem was solved by extending the previous section. For example, the section at bars 79 - 95 was originally shorter, so a modulatory passage was added to bring it back to the key of A minor (figure 40).
