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VivianaMoscovich
French SpectralMusic: an Introduction
kindof ultimatepointof whatcanbe realizedwith a About his own work, Dufourt has written that
symphonicorchestrain the utilizationof a highly there are six basic precepts in spectral music:9
permeatingtimbremodel.6 1. The piece is conceived as a synthetic
J.C. Risset represents the most scientific point whole;
of departurewithin the spectral movement. His 2. There is a basic congruencebetween the
basic interest is in the discovery and the creation whole and its inner division;
of new sounds, distorting sound, and obtaining 3. The manner in which the piece is
unknown sound illusions with the help of organized coincides with the manner in
which it evolves through time;
computerized sound analysis. In Musique,calcul
secret,he explains that: 4. Spectralmusic is founded on a theory of
functional fields and on an aesthetics of
Mathematics seemsproperto throwthe lighton many unstable forms;
musicalphenomenae.[...] It give us generatingor 5. This music marks a progress towards
explanatory musicalmodels- but it does not seemto
immanence and transparence;
giveus thekey, themodel.... Thelongdistancemodes
of arrangements,of musical equilibrium,remain 6. The renewal of the traditional instru-
mysterious, the senseof the 'bigform'seemsto escape mental practice, that of string and wind
any explanationbasedon models.The validity,the instruments.
musicalsenseof a formalism,of a syntaxdependson In his Auto portraitfrom 1977, in his own
the context and even more on the compositional analysis of his work Erewhon (Symphony for
purpose- and as to the creativeprocess:does it not percussion, written between 1972-1976) he
consistin creatingand elaboratingnew rules rather explains the following:10
thanin exploitingexistingones?
[...] The computerseemsto ascribeto the role of a Whatcountsin the percussionis not the impact,it is
notes'mill,a musicalrillingmillto theKm,betterthan the resonance'sdynamicspectrum.Accordingto the
the synthesizersand their sequencers...There is natureof the sticksand to the playingquality,we
-
nothingfatalin thatthe computerwill be used in a obtainfromthesameinstrument gong,cymbal,tam-
to to
normative,oppressivesense, codify, homogenize. tam - a multitude of unstable and very varied
... Thecomputeris notthereto makemusicprofitfrom resonances:quickor slow developments,oscillations
the prestigeof science...it is not unimportant to show ... Percussionmodifies profoundly the relations
that the computercan be turnedinto a tool to the betweenproductionand soundperception.
serviceof the musician- a multipletool in favourof [...] Percussionchangesareperceptionof duration
individuality, of the difference,helpingeachmusician ... by carryingus to extremes, it intensifiesthe
to make his own musicalinstrument,to evoke and contradictions - it is the conflict of these dynamic
transform soundsto hiswill.... Itis essentialto makeit systems that decides of the temporalform. A flow
[thecomputer] work in synergywith man - the human (flux) for example, is but a wayof oscillating,without
interventionhas to inflector directthe implemented deciding,betweentwo antagonizingTempi.All my
processes.... At eachstage,at eachlevel, the musician writingprinciplesrely on opposingandcomplemen-
will be able to keep control(or not). tarydetermination systems.
[...] The computer'ssynthesizedsound material In his preface to L'orage- d'apresGiorgioneof
presentsa malleability withoutprecedent,it lendsitself
1976-1977, Dufourt explains:
to new modesof arrangement, to new architectures.
But we have to 'clarifythis material'in the light of the bassregisterof wind instruments - flute, double
perception.7 bass,clarinet,coranglais(tenoroboe)andtrombone-
unfold in a very slow time, of heaviness and
Hugues Dufourt has written that: sluggishness.
Fromthe workof Jean-ClaudeRissetwe concludeto The emissionis ample and enables the mutual
thecertitudethatthefundamental conceptsof thenew recoveryof the masses,the somewhatatmospheric
musicalacousticshave an intercategorical status,that treatmentof timbre.Thistreatmentis emphasizedby
theyproceedby differentation andintegrationof the the utilizationof electronicinstruments thatset up, in
variousinformationcategories.Psycho-acoustics will the background,a field of tensionalvalues.
have the task of identifying the constraintsof The sonorityof the vibraphone,of the guitaror of
coherenceand assemblingthem into an ensembleof the electricorganis notdiffusedin the space,it would
conditions.8 rathertendto be contracted. Fromherewe cometo the
somewhatparadoxical interestthatcouldrepresentthe
confrontationbetweenall theseinstruments.11
6 Marc-Andre in Entretemps
Dalbavie,'NotessurGondwana',
No.8, Paris,Sept. 1989. 9 H. Dufourt, 'Musiquespectrale',in No.7,
Consequences
7Jean-ClaudeRisset,'Musique,Calcul secret?',in Critique 1985-1986,pp.114-115.
No.359, 1977. 10H. Dufourt, Auto Portrait,extract from the file on Spectral
La 1977.
8 H.
Dufourt,'Ladialectiquedu son usine',in ConsequencesMusic, CDMC Library, Villette, Paris,
No.7, automne85-printemps86, p.199. 11H. Dufourt, Preface to the score of this work.
FrenchSpectralMusic:an Introduction 25
1/4
I _ I
v..-
1/8
I
4 4J ? *,,*,
'
J~a I^ J . ^ M?
". - .2
At the beginning, we can note that the wood and grammes and of their mutes enabled me to rebuild
brass instruments use tempered sounds, and the the their timbre synthetically or, on the contrary, to
non-tempered sounds are reached by the strings.These distort them.
sounds, mostly in harmonics, will slowly give place to By the attention brought, constantly, no longer on
harmonic sounds throughout the piece. the material itself, but on emptiness, on the distance
[...] a process of continuity directs the major part of which separates one perceived instant from the next
Modulations. one (degree of change or evolution), I think I have
The idea of crossing-over is represented in many come a little closer to the fundamentaltime, no longer
different ways of writing: chronometricaltime but the psychological one and its
- formal crossing-over, relative value. Despite the continuity in evolution, we
- block crossing-over
- instrumental crossing-over 14AfterM. de la CruzPadronLopezLe-Dilly,idem.,pp.75,et
- linear crossing-over 79-81.
FrenchSpectralMusic:an Introduction 27
can distinguishand summarize andone sound was no longer a specific musical note,
five processes
breaking-upofthediscourse,
whosedurationsareproportionalneither was musical composition expected to
to theoddharmonics'spectrumintervals. show the contradictionsbetween different pitch
areas. Sound, considered as a whole integral
Maria Padron Lopez Le Dilly summarizes
entity, is decomposed into its different com-
Grisey's cycle EspacesAcoustiquessaying that: ponents to show - by achieving a hearing
In the whole cycle there is a growth in sonorous synthesis - the real essence of each and every
density. There is an omnipresentuse of micro- sound complex.
intervals, noise, beats, harmonic and inharmonic
spectrae,differentialandadditionalsounds.Thereis a
processof continuity,andtwo commonlandmarks: the
spectrumand the periodicity.The idea of human (I wouldlike to thankmy familyandNefer, without
breathingis one of the key parametersfor the whose assistanceI would not have arrivedthis far.)
composer.15
Thus, in conclusion, we can see that there is a
subdivisionof the Frenchspectralschool into two BIBLIOGRAPHY
aesthetic groups: - Barriere J.B. ed., Le timbre, metaphorepour la
1. The group of Grisey and Dufourt, who composition,editions Bourgois/Ircam, Paris, 1991.
believe that the musical piece is built from - Castanet P.-A., 'Musiques spectrales: nature
within, by sound-entities that are formed, organique et materiaux sonores au 20e siecle', in
transformed and transmuted. These sound- Dissonanz(Dissonance)no 20, Mai 1989.
- Castanet P.-A., Hugues Dufourt, son oeuvreet ses
entities thus become the nucleus from which the
Doctorat Sciences Humaines - Musique,
prealables.
piece develops over time. Universite de Tours, 1992.
2. The group of Murail and Risset, who - Dufourt H., Auto portrait,extrait du dossier sur la
represent a compositional tendency in which musique spectrale, La Villette, Paris, 1977.
science and psychoacousticsare essential to the - Dufourt H., 'Musique spectrale', Consequences
compositionprocess.The quest for new formulas, No.7/8, 1985-86.
and the use of the computeras an essentialtool in - Dufourt H., 'Hauteur et Timbre', Inharmoniques
the composition process, are also specific features No.3, Ircam/ChristianBourgois, Paris,Mars 1988.
of this group. The piece is considered to be a - Entretemps:musiquecontemporaine, No.8.
whole, in which different events come one after - Grisey G., 'La musique: le devenir des sons',
the other but preserve its global structure. Consequences No. 7/8, 1985-86.
- HumbertclaudeE., 'Le reflet d'une oreille', in 20e
Spectral music seeks to exteriorize the inner siecle:imagesde la musiquefrancaise,Sacem/Papier.
realityof sound, to projectits inner dynamicsinto - ImbertyM., 'Le temps(musical)retrouve',Esprit
an acoustic space and time, and to transmitto the No.99, Mars 1985.
public the reality of sound in all its complexity. - Les cahiersde l'Ircam:compositionat environnements
Another feature is the use of acoustic suggestion Ircam/CentreGeorges Pompidou,
informatiques,
and perception, as we have seen in Grisey's Paris, automne 1992.
descriptionof spectralmusic; in Murail'sprecept - Moscovich, V., L'esthetique de la musiquespectrale-
that the composer has to be concerned by the est-elleimpressionniste?,
Memore de DEA de l'Ecole
relation conception/perception of a piece; and in des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris,1994.
- Padron Lopez-Le Dilly, M., Aspectsde la "'musique
Risset, who wrote that the composer of spectral
music should have some knowledge of Psycho- Modulations
spectrale": deGerardGrisey',Memoire de
DEA de 1'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
acoustics.
Sociales, Paris, 1993.
To conclude: Spectralmusic, with its ideal of a - Risset J.C., 'Musique, calcul secret?', Critique
spatialsound - achieved by the decomposition of No. 359, 1977.
sound - that shows its components on a large - Risset J.C., 'Perception, environment, musiques'.
scale, found its aesthetic sources in the music of Photocopiede l'articletrouveea l'Ircam,dansle
Debussy, Varese, Scelsi and Messiaen, for whom service de Pedagogie.