Stirling Newberry wrote:

>What this gets back to is that tonality is an effect which must be brought
>out by the performers. One can can go looking for tonality in a piece, and
>play it that way, even if it is not really there, even if there are loose
>hanging details that cannot be explained tonally. One can also not see the
>tonality in a work, and hence leave listeners with the impression of a
>circus of chromatic chords...

I would add that the use of tertian structures (triads, 7th and 9th chords)
as well as chords with "roots" need not imply tonality (e.g. the finale of
the Schoenberg 2nd quartet), and conversely one can experience tonality in
the virtual absence of such structures, as the quartets of Bartok attest.

Here is a philosophical question to ponder: Is a work that never departs
from one note or chord more or less tonal than one in which no note or
chord is perceived as a tonal goal?

Chris Bonds