ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interrelationship between hierarchic and non-hierarchic structures for the way that one might be seen to contain the other by investigating David Lumsdaine's Mandala 3. It describes that the unique problematic is the way in which parts or fragments relate to movements or compositions. Throughout Mandala 3 Lumsdaine's self-quotation of Ruhe sanfte is held in tension with the quotation of Bach, which in turn informs the ways in which Ruhe sanfte is read. The chapter examines some of the facets of these works to observe how Ruhe sanfte and Mandala 3 fit within Lumsdaine's output and, more valuably, how these pieces can inform our understanding of the more widespread move away from modernism during this part of the twentieth century. Considered from this vantage-point, Lumsdaine's use of the term sonata makes more sense. In the transcription of the Bach, two ideas are presented: flowing and set in the tonic; dance-like and in the dominant.
