Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail

Ana Szilagyi

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail

Ana Szilagyi

Published in American Journal of Art and Design (Volume 6, Issue 2)

Received: 28 April 2021 Accepted: 31 May 2021 Published: 15 June 2021

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Abstract

This paper wants to highlight the creation process in the spectral music of Tristan Murail that supposes a special sound design. The spectral music uses the sound spectrum, i.e. the sound components (overtones) as material that give to a sound its timbre. The spectrum is based on the frequencies, which can be calculated with the computer. The aim of this paper is to describe some aspects of the work of Tristan Murail, which are in connection with the design, notions that himself uses describing his compositions, as material, models, modeling, object, process. The material is the sonority itself. The models are the technological ones taken from the electronic music as echo, reverberation, frequency modulation, etc. and translated in the instrumental (or/and electronic) music. After the analysis of a sound, which is decomposed in sine waves, follows the sound modeling through recombining the sound components, doing distortions or other effects borrowed from the electronic music. In this way new sounds are synthesized, which can be seen as more complex and sophisticated objects. The composer deals with an amount of sounds, therefore the computer is important in the compositional process to calculate a great number of sound combinations. The compositional conception of Murail has changed with the development of the computer technology and music informatics. In this way, I should mention the role of computer in the sound design of Murail. The process is an integral part both of the composing and of the composition. The composition evolves over time as the sound does: it is in a continuous changing. Sound evolution is also a model for Murail to shape the form of his compositions.

Published in	American Journal of Art and Design (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13
Page(s)	55-59
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Harmonic Series, Harmonic Spectrum, Overtones, Timbre, Frequency, Analysis-Synthesis

References

[1]	Fineberg, Joshua. 2000. “Guide to the Basic Concepts and Techniques of Spectral Music”, Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 19, Part 2, pp. 81-113.
[2]	Rose, François. 1996. “Introduction to the Pitch organization of French Spectral Music”, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 6-39.
[3]	Schneller, Oliver. 2013. “KLANGFORSCHUNG UND KOMPOSITION. Einige Überlegungen zum spektralen Ansatz”, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 02, pp. 26-32.
[4]	Murail, Tristan. 2003. Seminar, Ostrova Days 2003 Report New, Ostrava: Music Institute and Festival Ostrova, pp. 97-103.
[5]	Michel, Pierre. 2002. “Entretien avec Tristan Murail”, Tristan Murail, ed. by Peter Szendy, pp. 29-58. Paris: L’Harmattan.
[6]	Lalitte, Philippe. 2002. “Le spectre d’une voix. Une analyse de L’Esprit des dunes”, Tristan Murail, ed. by Peter Szendy, pp. 59-102. Paris: L’Harmattan.
[7]	Hummel, Thomas. 2005. “…um mir das Vergehen der Zeit zu versüßen”, MusikTexte 107, pp. 1-7.
[8]	Haselböck, Lukas. 2016. „Spektralmusik“, Lexikon Neue Musik, ed. by Jörn Peter Hiekel, Christian Utz, pp. 556-560. Kassel.
[9]	Murail, Tristan. 2002. “Au fil des œvres“, Tristan Murail, ed. by Peter Szendy, pp. 103-52. Paris: L’Harmattan.
[10]	Dufourt, Hugues. 2014. La musique spectrale. Une revolution épistémologique, Editions Delatour France.
[11]	Resch, Gerald. 1999. “Natur Plus X. Die spektrale Musik des Groupe L’Itinéraire“, Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 54. Jahrgang, Heft 6, pp. 16-20.
[12]	Siano, Andrea. 2020. La trasformazione dell’oggetto sonoro dall’esperienza di Philippe Hurel alla realizzazione di Formalhaut“. Tesi in composizione. Conservatorio di Musica Niccolò Piccini, Bari.
[13]	Pinto-d’Aguiar, Felipe. 2020. “Musical OOPArts: early emergences of timbral objects“, Proceedingsof the 2^ndInternational Conference on Timbre (Timbre 2020), 2-4 September 2020, Thesaloniki, Greece, pp. 1-4.
[14]	Haselböck, Lukas. 2013. “Zur <> bei Schönberg, Grisey und Murail”, Klang und Wahrnehmung in der Musik des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, musiktheorien der gegenwart 6, Saarbrücken, pp. 137-162.
[15]	Baillet, Jérȏme. 2002. “L’esthétique musicale de Tristan Murail”, ed. by Peter Szendy, pp. 7-27. Paris: L’Harmattan.
[16]	Zattra, Laura; Misdariis, Nicolas; Pecquet, Frank; Donin, Nicolas; Fierro, David 2018. “Analysis of Sound Design Practices [ASDP]. Research Methodology”, Proceedings of the 22^nd Colloquium of Music Informatics (CIM) Machine Sounds, Sounds Machines, Udine, November 20-23, 2018, pp. 168-75.

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Ana Szilagyi. (2021). Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. American Journal of Art and Design, 6(2), 55-59. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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Ana Szilagyi. Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. Am. J. Art Des. 2021, 6(2), 55-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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AMA Style

Ana Szilagyi. Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. Am J Art Des. 2021;6(2):55-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13,
  author = {Ana Szilagyi},
  title = {Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail},
  journal = {American Journal of Art and Design},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {55-59},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajad.20210602.13},
  abstract = {This paper wants to highlight the creation process in the spectral music of Tristan Murail that supposes a special sound design. The spectral music uses the sound spectrum, i.e. the sound components (overtones) as material that give to a sound its timbre. The spectrum is based on the frequencies, which can be calculated with the computer. The aim of this paper is to describe some aspects of the work of Tristan Murail, which are in connection with the design, notions that himself uses describing his compositions, as material, models, modeling, object, process. The material is the sonority itself. The models are the technological ones taken from the electronic music as echo, reverberation, frequency modulation, etc. and translated in the instrumental (or/and electronic) music. After the analysis of a sound, which is decomposed in sine waves, follows the sound modeling through recombining the sound components, doing distortions or other effects borrowed from the electronic music. In this way new sounds are synthesized, which can be seen as more complex and sophisticated objects. The composer deals with an amount of sounds, therefore the computer is important in the compositional process to calculate a great number of sound combinations. The compositional conception of Murail has changed with the development of the computer technology and music informatics. In this way, I should mention the role of computer in the sound design of Murail. The process is an integral part both of the composing and of the composition. The composition evolves over time as the sound does: it is in a continuous changing. Sound evolution is also a model for Murail to shape the form of his compositions.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail
AU - Ana Szilagyi
Y1 - 2021/06/15
PY - 2021
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13
DO - 10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13
T2 - American Journal of Art and Design
JF - American Journal of Art and Design
JO - American Journal of Art and Design
SP - 55
EP - 59
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2578-7802
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13
AB - This paper wants to highlight the creation process in the spectral music of Tristan Murail that supposes a special sound design. The spectral music uses the sound spectrum, i.e. the sound components (overtones) as material that give to a sound its timbre. The spectrum is based on the frequencies, which can be calculated with the computer. The aim of this paper is to describe some aspects of the work of Tristan Murail, which are in connection with the design, notions that himself uses describing his compositions, as material, models, modeling, object, process. The material is the sonority itself. The models are the technological ones taken from the electronic music as echo, reverberation, frequency modulation, etc. and translated in the instrumental (or/and electronic) music. After the analysis of a sound, which is decomposed in sine waves, follows the sound modeling through recombining the sound components, doing distortions or other effects borrowed from the electronic music. In this way new sounds are synthesized, which can be seen as more complex and sophisticated objects. The composer deals with an amount of sounds, therefore the computer is important in the compositional process to calculate a great number of sound combinations. The compositional conception of Murail has changed with the development of the computer technology and music informatics. In this way, I should mention the role of computer in the sound design of Murail. The process is an integral part both of the composing and of the composition. The composition evolves over time as the sound does: it is in a continuous changing. Sound evolution is also a model for Murail to shape the form of his compositions.
VL - 6
IS - 2
ER -

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Author Information

Ana Szilagyi

Department of Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy, Richard Wagner Conservatory, Vienna, Austria

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APA Style

Ana Szilagyi. (2021). Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. American Journal of Art and Design, 6(2), 55-59. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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ACS Style

Ana Szilagyi. Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. Am. J. Art Des. 2021, 6(2), 55-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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AMA Style

Ana Szilagyi. Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail. Am J Art Des. 2021;6(2):55-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13,
  author = {Ana Szilagyi},
  title = {Design in the Spectral Music of Tristan Murail},
  journal = {American Journal of Art and Design},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {55-59},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20210602.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajad.20210602.13},
  abstract = {This paper wants to highlight the creation process in the spectral music of Tristan Murail that supposes a special sound design. The spectral music uses the sound spectrum, i.e. the sound components (overtones) as material that give to a sound its timbre. The spectrum is based on the frequencies, which can be calculated with the computer. The aim of this paper is to describe some aspects of the work of Tristan Murail, which are in connection with the design, notions that himself uses describing his compositions, as material, models, modeling, object, process. The material is the sonority itself. The models are the technological ones taken from the electronic music as echo, reverberation, frequency modulation, etc. and translated in the instrumental (or/and electronic) music. After the analysis of a sound, which is decomposed in sine waves, follows the sound modeling through recombining the sound components, doing distortions or other effects borrowed from the electronic music. In this way new sounds are synthesized, which can be seen as more complex and sophisticated objects. The composer deals with an amount of sounds, therefore the computer is important in the compositional process to calculate a great number of sound combinations. The compositional conception of Murail has changed with the development of the computer technology and music informatics. In this way, I should mention the role of computer in the sound design of Murail. The process is an integral part both of the composing and of the composition. The composition evolves over time as the sound does: it is in a continuous changing. Sound evolution is also a model for Murail to shape the form of his compositions.},
 year = {2021}
}

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