Timbre and Orchestration in Two Works by Rebecca Saunders for Soloist and Ensemble

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Rebecca Saunders (b. 1967) is a central figure in contemporary timbre-based composition. Her music incorporates a rich palette of extended techniques and unusual instrumental sounds. While Saunders describes her compositional approach as intuitive, she cautions that this does not imply a lack of rigor: rather, “intuition is based upon thorough research and experience.” This chapter seeks to establish new analytical approaches that can address the subtleties and sophistication of Saunders’s orchestrational techniques. Drawing on a wide range of concepts—including Dora Hanninen’s distinction between segmentation and association, Lasse Thoresen’s aural sonology, Stephen McAdams’s taxonomy of orchestral grouping effects, and Saunders’s own descriptions of her works—I examine the composer’s approach to timbre and orchestration in two works for soloist and ensemble: Fury II (2009), a concerto for double bass and mixed quintet, and Skin (2016) for soprano and thirteen instruments.</jats:p>