Le 30 juin 2017
de 11h00 à 11h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
amphithéâtre 4
Séance - Leading Figures of Modernity (II): Xenakis and Ligeti
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Mark Delaere
Together with composers such as Varèse, Messiaen, Ligeti, or Penderecki, Xenakis represents the music historical situation in which scores are still used but no longer an adequate representation of the musical events. It is for instance hard to imagine the pile of 46 superimposed glissandi in Pithoprakta (from bb. 52 onwards) just from reading the score. And yet the score does present information which can be combined with our listening experience. I am particularly interested in these early forms of notated sound complexes, since they represent the transition from pitch to sound and create a dialogue between these components. The choice for Xenakis’ ensemble work Thallein (1984) as analytical object is inspired by the desire to analyse the function of rhythm in the pitch-sound continuum. I will especially focus on the opening section (bb. 1-15) and on the rhythmical process in bb. 134-152.
In this paper ‘traditional’ score analysis is combined with methods derived from spectromorphology as initiated by P. Schaeffer (1966) and developed by authors such as M. Chion (1983), J. Dack (2012), or L. Thoresen (2015).
The opening section of Thallein shows just how pitch and harmony merge into sound complexes, and vice versa. The function of rhythmical articulation is already obvious from this excerpt, but becomes the main focus of attention in section bb. 134-152 and their preparation (bb. 92-97 and 116-122). Also, a possible connection with (Messiaen’s analysis of) Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps will be established.
