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SEQUENZA21/
340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Zookeeper:   
Jerry Bowles
(212) 582-3791

Managing Editor:
David Salvage

 Contributing Editors:
Galen H. Brown
Evan Johnson
Ian Moss
Lanier Sammons
Deborah Kravetz
(Philadelphia)
Eric C. Reda
(Chicago)
Christian Hertzog
(San Diego)
Jerry Zinser
(Los Angeles)

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Jeff Harrington

Latest Posts
Henri Dutilleux Wins Ernst von Siemens Prize
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This Year at Tanglewood
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Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Friday, January 28, 2005
Meeting Murail

Last night I attended a forum given by Tristan Murail at the CUNY Graduate Center. Murail, who teaches at Columbia, is the world�s leading "spectralist" composer. He derives the harmonic material for his works from computer analyses of the overtone series. First he�ll record anything from a trombone�s low C, to himself hitting a glass with a spoon. Then, using the program "Open Music," he analyzes the wave-forms produced by the sound�s harmonics. By isolating some of these overtones, he builds harmonies. By distorting the harmonics of a given series, or by employing a non-harmonic overtone-series (like that produced by a piano), he creates dissonance and consonance.

It sounds technical, doesn�t it? While I�ve always been impressed by the spectralists, I�ve always found their musical results a bit pedantic. And, while this can be true of Murail�s and Grisey�s work, Murail�s presentation demonstrated that spectralism is no less intuitive a method of composition than any other; the "technical" stuff is just about reaching deep within a sound to mine it for everything it�s got. But once you�ve got it, it�s all up to the imagination.

There�s a great CD of Murail�s music currently available on Naive featuring the Orchestre National de France. Especially if you�re a fan of Var�se, you should check it out. Like Var�se, Murail's gestural pallette can seem a bit limited, but, also like Var�se, he produces color like it�s no one else�s business. The orchestra piece "Gondwana" is especially worth hearing: it�s like "La Mer" a hundred years later.


posted by David Salvage 1/28/2005



 
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