Le 29 juin 2017
de 15h00 à 15h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3202
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Alessandro Bratus
In the fifth chapter of her recent book Reconceiving Structure in Contemporary Music, Judy Lochhead analyses Kaja Saariaho’s piece Lohn using timbral mapping to conceptualize its structure. She identifies moments of salience in the temporal unfolding of music as the result of “a confluence of elements of events in interacting planes” that produces specific timbral phenomena (Lochhead 2015: 119). The inseparability of form and sound in recorded popular music could be a relevant case in point to address such a topic. This is particularly clear in the collaboration between the producer and the performer, where they work to establish sets of recognizable sonic signatures affecting both the aural dimension of the listeners and the structural development of the tracks.
As a case study, I will focus on the partnership between Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash for the American Recordings series (1994-2010). The analysis of the songs will take into considerations a number of parameters, and a number of analytical approaches will be applied in order to define salient moments as the result of convergence between different musical dimensions. This paper will represent a contribution to two areas of theoretical reflection: a closer integration between traditional and software-based analytical tools in order to supplement questions regarding sound, performance and mediatisation in the agenda of music analysis, as well as the evaluation of timbral phenomena as crucial for the perceptual aspects of musical form.
