The Usher Waltz

The Fall of the House of Usher is the inspiration for this guitar piece. Written in 1984, the Usher Waltz by Nikita Koshkin is Koshkin’s interpretation of the story.  The music is “Cast in a single movement, it is a motoric waltz whose careering harmonic progression around A minor threatens, and ultimately succeeds, in tearing the music apart. Its climax is an extraordinarily effective sequence of pounded right-hand chords, 'Bartok pizzicato' (where the strings are deliberately snapped back against the fingerboard), and then ghostly harmonics.”  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher)

 

When you listen to the nearly six minute piece, you can hear the variations of chords as John Williams performs the piece.  The music shows the internal issues that Roderick is having within his own mind.  The music speeds up and slows down rhythmically enabling the listener to catch the idea that Roderick is suffering with great instability of his own mind.  Moreover, we can attribute the climax of the music as the point where Madeline is returns from her premature grave and dies simultaneously with Roderick.  The final notes and chords are strummed using the staccato method of playing.  It manages to create the image of death enabling us to know that Roderick, Madeline and the house have all crumbled.