Sound in the Ecstatic-Materialist Perspective on Experimental Music

Riccardo D. Wanke

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000430288
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Media & Performing Arts
• Thema: Music

What does a one hour contemporary orchestral piece by Georg Friedrich Haas have in common with a series of glitch-noise electronic tracks by Pan Sonic? This book proposes that, despite their differences, they share a particular understanding of sound that is found across several quite distinct genres of contemporary art music: the ecstatic-materialist perspective. Sound in the ecstatic-materialist perspective is considered as a material mass or element, unfolding in time, encountered by a listener, for whom the experience of that sound exceeds the purely sonic without becoming entirely divorced from its materiality. It is "material" by virtue of the focus on the texture, consistency, and density of sound; it is "ecstatic" in the etymological sense, that is to say that the experience of this sound involves an instability; an inclination to depart from material appearance, an ephemeral and transitory impulse in the very perception of sound to something beyond – but still related to – it. By examining musical pieces from spectralism to electroacoustic domains, from minimalism to glitch electronica and dubstep, this book identifies the key intrinsic characteristics of this musical perspective. To fully account for this perspective on sonic experience, listener feedback and interviews with composers and performers are also incorporated. Sound in the ecstatic-materialist perspective is the common territory where composers, sound artists, performers, and listeners converge.

1 Sound in 20th-century music

DOI: 10.4324/9781003132387-1

In this chapter, I present the essential premises of the ecstatic-materialist perspective. I start with the idea of sound that I claim to be in common among certain experimental music practices. The core of this particular conception of sound originates and flourishes simultaneously within different genres of 20th-century music, and so its definition draws on several different musical contexts. I describe the E-M perspective as grounded in four aesthetic currents of the last century, namely spectralism, minimalism, avant-garde, and musique concrète. These four fields, I argue, delineate a musical framework or sonic map from which today’s E-M perspective arose.

Both the commonalities and specificities of current composers and performers belonging to the E-M perspective can be grasped from this sonic map which delineates the variety and cross-genre nature of this view on sound. Figures such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Éliane Radigue, Mika Vainio, and Stephan Mathieu all view sound as a complex idea, a material substance to carve up. From this frame of reference, I build up a collection of pieces that I use as case studies to explore the different facets of this shared perspective.

Scelsi and the centrality of sound

Towards the end of the 1950s, some years before spectralism would emerge, the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi was one of the first to postulate sound as a dense, spherical, and three-dimensional entity, a kind of complex matter (Scelsi, 1981).

Approaching the subject with a mystical attitude, Scelsi emphasises the “third dimension” of sound.

Sound is spherical, but while listening to it, it seems to us to possess only two dimensions: pitch and duration; the third, depth, we know that it exists, but in a certain sense it escapes us. The upper harmonics and sub-harmonics (less-audible) sometimes give us the impression of a vast and complex sound with properties other than that of pitch or duration, but it is difficult for us to perceive this complexity.¹

Scelsi’s intuition can be seen to have been supported by several later studies on music perception and psychoacoustics, which examine this complex area. How could sound or timbre be defined? What exactly does Scelsi mean by “depth” (“profondeur”)?

The sound world of Scelsi’s compositions has often been described as exploring the “sound/Klang” in opposition to the “sound/Ton”, referring to the two possible translations of the word sound in German. The term Klang touches on the substance of sound, the medium, the inner content, and constitution; Ton refers more to a singular sound, its external qualities being those that exemplify its singularity, its relationships with other sounds. The “sound/Klang” has to do with the spectral qualities of sound, and Scelsi himself refers to it through the dimensions as pitch, duration, and “depth”, paralleling to some degree the spectro-temporal dimensions (frequency, time, and dynamic) of sound.

The Italian composer attempts to give specificity to this concept by referring “[to] acoustic phenomena such as transients, binaural beats [and] the notion of critical bands” (Murail, 2004);² all these elements, from 1960 onwards, become the focus of study and indeed the very sonic concern itself for several genres within experimental music. The “depth” evoked by Scelsi is that dimension of sound that relates to partials and overtones: frequency interactions and minor interferences and resonances, noises and distortions, all the way to minor (psycho)acoustic phenomena.

Scelsi and spectral composers such as Gérard Grisey stress the fact that these aural traits take place within the internal spaciousness of sound. This notion prefigures a sonic domain of which one possible definition is represented by the term “espace-matière” (space-matter) where sound expresses its “colours, light effects, tactile sensations, all properties of a physical matter” (Bériachvili, 2010, p. 12).³ This space-matter, as one of many ideas of musical space (Chouvel and Solomos, 1998), is defined as the extent to which sound possesses a quasi-objective presence and material nature: it is the place of the palpable qualities of sound, its volume, its density, and grain (Bériachvili, 2010, p. 32).

What makes Scelsi’s sound interesting for this book lies in its indefinite nature, which may provide more flexibility and nuance to more appropriately address a set of different musical practices. The notion of the “depth” of sound, which apparently gives access to the material aspects of sound, leads to the intuition on which this E-M perspective is grounded: that this idea of sound is (consciously or unconsciously) the focus for a range of composers from very different genres of music today.

Key aspects of sound in the ecstatic-materialist perspective

The initial stage in this research is to recognise pieces where this idea of sound as a complex substance is explored and developed as a central focus. In order to do so, I identify a series of key elements that typify this idea of sound.

A first key characteristic is that compositions belonging to this perspective are primarily conceived of through their aural aspects; the inner qualities of sound are the focus. The fascination with controlling the nuances of sound implies observation on a microscale and as a consequence induces a dilation of time: as Grisey puts it, “[t]he more we dilate our auditory acuity to perceive the microphonic world, the more we shrink our temporal acuity to the point of needing quite long durations”.⁴

Secondly, the linear organisation of music is abandoned in favour of a verticality of time, sustained tones, and a non-teleological organisation. Styles and composers that exemplify this perspective explore the concepts of repetition as a perceptive event, as an experience of listening “in accumulation”, that is in opposition to moment-to-moment listening which is linear and discursive.⁵ Repetition can lead to hypnotic effects, eliciting both ecstatic and trance states.⁶ Certain offshoots of electronica, such as dubstep, minimal techno, and glitch, which approximate to the E-M perspective commonly involve specific live listening conditions that provoke trance-like unfocused states and corporeal participations, but these pieces can also be listened to at home through high-quality systems in quiet and very attentive circumstances. These listening conditions do not necessitate movement and occur in solitude, through a conscious intense pleasure, i.e. ecstasy.

Other important elements to bear in mind in this description of sound are the large range of possible sound types (acoustic, electronic, concrete) and the design of complex aural textures with no identifiable or separate elements. Within the ecstatic-materialist perspective, it is in fact crucial that the idea of sound in a musical work is seen as a single entity. Composers and performers who embrace this approach conceive of music as starting from an elaborated notion of a unified sound, rather than from an idea of sound as made up of multiple separate parameters. Musical phrases and melodic lines merge into a unique sonic material in such a way that any component of harmony dissipates into sound. “Spectral music carries out the form/material fusion through the simulation of sound, an idea that was also found in Scelsi: the form of the work is only the deployment of the structure of sound – which […] presupposes a change of scale” (Solomos, 2019, p. 181). The change of scale, as we have seen, concerns both temporal and sonic dimensions. While musical temporality in the E-M perspective becomes vertical, in the sonic dimension they are pulses, noises, pitch, and dynamic – previously considered as variables or used as connotative elements in recognising a particular genre – that are now constituents of a unique sonic complexity. Sound becomes a composite notion which is manipulated to create complex forms where no single parameter is foregrounded, and where all aspects serve a unified complex sound whole. Therefore, within the ecstatic-materialist perspective, musical components merge into this enhanced idea of sound that includes timbre, harmony, and texture (Bériachvili, 2008).

To sum up, the E-M perspective is characterised by a series of key aspects that relate to sound seen as a unique physical-aural substance treated as a subject-material to be explored. The dilation of the temporal dimension and the specific use of repetition enables this exploration. How best then to pick pieces, styles, and authors that exemplify these characteristics? The E-M perspective I propose here draws on many areas of music that aren’t traditionally brought together, given that my focus is on an aesthetic approach to sound that cuts across many musical scenes of the 20th century. This specific vantage point may be outlined as “the process of emancipation of sound within the music practices of the 20th century” (Solomos, 2019). This approach allows me to explore many different contexts and practices through a unifying idea relating to sound: I extract correspondences on the sonic plane in order to define threads in this intricate panorama.

From music to sound

Throughout the 20th century, certain currents within experimental music can be seen as moving progressively towards a more explicit interest in the intrinsic properties of sound; as Bériachvili puts it, “from the emancipation of timbre to the exploration of sound”.⁷ During the last century

harmony starts to liberate itself from functional musical syntax by valuing pure phonic aspects of sonic complexes. […] The expansion of the sonic palette and the integration of noises are then accompanied by the fusion of categories: timbre, harmony and texture converge towards a new musical essence – “sound”.⁷

Bonnet talks about a gradual passage from music as a constituted element (“élément constitué”), with a given function, to music as a constituent element (“élément constituant”), autonomised in such a way that we may define it not through its usage but through its nature (2012, p. 130). Solomos identifies a change: “from a musical culture centred on the note to a culture of sound” (2019, p. 5). This sonic revolution has cut across genres and affected several aspects of our musical world, influencing how technology has been adopted within compositional practices, shifting the aesthetic and philosophic views on musical sound, and elevating the role of the listener.

While the non-linear development of 20th-century music allows researchers to jump around in the chronology and select from the variety of music practices by identifying correspondences between diverse techniques or historical influences, the plurality of currents allows the identification of similar approaches occurring simultaneously in disparate musical contexts. Both non-linearity and plurality are useful traits for the definition of the E-M perspective: I will trace both historical and cross-genre connections as well as parallels between contrasting musical perspectives in order to find the seeds of the E-M perspective in the music of the past and evidences of its presence in different pieces of today’s music. In order to define the E-M perspective, I start by considering four simultaneous lines: the spectral, the minimalist, the musique concrète, and the avant-garde lines.

From the beginning of the century up to 1980: a plural emancipation

Spectral line

Looking at the emergence of sound in the music of the 20th century, there is a thread that unifies figures such as Claude Debussy, Edgar Varèse, Olivier Messiaen, Giacinto Scelsi, and György Ligeti, and which arrives at French spectralism and composers such as Iannis Xenakis. This trend focuses on the evolution of timbre, the expansion of music temporality, the first use of microtonality, and the deep exploration of sonic spectra and masses. I refer to this thread as the “spectral line”.

Provost (2001) describes a dual course of events that begins in France and Germany after the collapse of the tonal system. By examining the dialectic relationship between the structural development of the series, characterised by the works of Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern, and the evolution of timbre, embodied in by the works of Debussy, Varèse, and Messiaen, he depicts this dual reading as holding until the second half of the 20th century. These two conceptions of early modernism are then given fresh identities: total serialism and French spectralism.

Provost puts the “spectral line” in opposition to the structural conception of music. The emergence of the spectral movement made clear in fact the shift in focus to the inner characteristics of sound, breaking the well-established tradition of serialism.⁸ Composers started to decompose sonic spectra, rebuilding a sound through complex aggregates of tones. The elements used to make these reconstructions exist within the liminal equilibrium between the sonic components of an orchestral chord and parts of a unique instrumental timbre (i.e. Grisey’s synthetic spectrum). Spectralists’ interests revolve then around exploring unstable musical forms (such as binaural effects, aural transients, and other acoustic phenomena that up until then were largely underdeveloped), the perceptual aspects of music, and the sonic phenomenon as something almost organic (Solomos, 2019, p. 131).

Minimalist line

Another thread that comes out in opposition to serialism is minimalism. Minimalists found space between academic serialism and emerging avant-garde indeterminacy. They gained an appreciable success due to the re-introduction of repetition, a cardinal element of recognition in music, into the abstract complexity of an aleatoric approach. Corbett (2000) d...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Opening quotation
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Sound in 20th-century music
• 2 Morphology and structure of musical works
• 3 Listening
• 4 Composers and performers
• 5 The ecstatic-materialist perspective
• 6 Going beyond sound-in-itself
• 7 Epilogue: The ecstatic-materialist perspective in context
• Discography
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index