In Harmony.

Julian Anderson Introduces the Music and Ideas of Tristan Murail

Author(s): Julian Anderson and Tristan Murail
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 134, No. 1804 (Jun., 1993), pp. 321-323
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1003053 .
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The music of Tristan Murail

IN HARMONY
Julian Anderson iintroduces the works and ideas of Tristan Miurail

W hy do we always have to think of music in terms of notes? Murail'ssMemo

Mura Memoire-erosion 1976 for
re eros on(1976) or horn andn
and nine ne instruments
ns rumen s
... We work with sounds,for which notes are simply sym- adopted
adop edthis echn queoof recurren
h s technique recurrent'points
po n s oof res
rest' through
hrougha cur curi-
bols... Notes and sounds are not the same thing.'l Thus Tristan ous ana analogyogy wwith h eelectronic
ec ron cmus music.c The p ece iss largely
piece arge y an instru-
ns ru
Murailten years ago in an articleabouthis then latest composition, mental
men mu a onoof the
a ssimulation he so
so-called
ca ed 'reinjection
re n ec onloop',oop a dev devicece from
rom
Desintegrations (1982-83) for ensemble and tape. If that quote the he days oof ana ogue sstudios
analogue ud os in n wh
which ch a live
ve sound iss recordedon
recordedon
applies particularly well to Desintegrations itself, it epitomises ape passed through
tape, number of oother
hrough a numbero her tape-heads
ape heads too be p played
ayed
equally accuratelyMurail's whole attitudeto composition over the back aafter er success
successive ve time
me de ays then
delays, sent back too the
hen sen he first
rs tapeape
last twenty years. Together with his contemporaryand close col- recorder too be comb combined ned w withh new sounds
sounds: a procedure w with h an
league, G6rardGrisey, he has resolutelyopposedthe serialand post- obvious
obv ous basbasicc per od c y too it. In Memo
periodicity re eros on every sound
Memoire-erosion,
serialtrendsdominantin so much new music, with theiremphasison ayed by the
played
p soloo horn iss cop
he so ed by the
copied he ensemb
ensemble, n a yw
e initially with h
such notationalconceits as parametricpermutation, rhythmic and absolutely
abso u e ymechan
mechanical ca regu ar y so that
regulariy, ha thehe mus
musicc ccircles
rc es aroundin n
intervallicsymmetry,octave equivalenceand muchof what is under- ever-closer
ever c oser concen
concentric r c canons
canons. Bu But Mura
Murail aalso so ssimulates
mu a es the he
stood as the sine qua non of compositionaltechniquenowadays. In blurred
b urred per od c y and h
periodicity hiss
ss wh
whichch accumu
accumulate a e when a tape ape iss
place of all this, the dominantforce is that of sound itself, and our repeatedly
repea ed ycop
copieded and h highlights hese as features
gh gh s these ea uresoof the he mus
musical ca
perceptionof it. The use of the acoustic constituentsof sounds, or ruc ure The ensemb
sstructure. ensemble's e s imitations
m a onsoof the he horn
horn'ssma er a - ooften
material en
sound spectra,not only as the basis for large-scaleforms, but also as mp e consonan
ssimple, consonant arpegg
arpeggios os or just ng e no
us ssingle noteses - reduce it aga again n
pitch andrhythmicmaterialin theirmusic has given rise to the cliche and aga again n too chaos and no se the
noise; he so
soloist's emp stoo fight
o s s aattempts gh thishs
'spectral music', by which the work of Murail, Grisey and their process - no ab y in
notably naw wild,
d bark
barking cadenza nearthe
ngcadenzanear he end - mere
merelyy
pupils is generallyreferredto. This is a highly misleadingterm,giv- result in
resu n grea
greaterer d
disorder.
sorder F na y the
Finally he so
soloist
o s ggives
ves in,n the
he p piece
ece
ing the impression of a jumble of sound spectra being chucked ending
end ng w with h a sharpcclick ck as thehe composer h himself
mse sw ches ooff h
switches hiss
togetherto form a piece of music. In fact, sound spectrathemselves imaginary
mag narytape ape mach
machine. ne
are far less compositionallydeterministicthan the acoustic continu- In EEthers 1978 for
hers (1978), or flute
u e and a qu n e oof vviolin,
quintet o n vviola,
o a ce cello,
o
ity which links them, their relative consonanceor dissonance. This bass, and trombone,
bass rombone the he re a onoof the
relation he flute
u e too the
he qu n e iss ssimilar
quintet m ar
obsession with orgainiccontinuityplaces Murail,in particular,well too that
ha oof thehe horntoo the ensemblee in
he ensemb n Memo
Memoire. re The fluteu e proposes
outside the 20th-centuryFrench traditionof discontinuouslyjuxta- a serserieses oof 'acoustic
acous c modemodels' s wh
whichch the
he qu
quintet emp stoo ssimu-
n e aattempts mu
posing objets sonores, a characteristicof both Boulez and Murail's a e in
late; n so do ng the
doing, he mode
modelss are progress
progressivelyve ydedeformed
ormedinto n o a new
teacher Messiaen. For Murail, as for Grisey, 'the vehicle is less texture
ex urewh which ch prov
provides des the
he pre ex for
pretext or a new acous
acousticc mode
model from rom
importantthanthejourney travelledin it... the objet sonore does not the he flute,
u e andso
and so thehe process con continues.
nues The twin w n no
notions
onsoof process
exist any morein itself; it is subsumedinto puredevelopment.'2 and total
o a con nu yhave by now become the
continuity he ha marksoof Mura
hallmarks Murail'ss
Murail'sfirst matureworks were composed aroundrecurringhar- y e - the
sstyle he mos
most charac
characteristic
er s cp eces from
pieces rom this
h s time
me evo
evolveve in n an
monic spectra(e.g. the naturalovertoneseries) whose simple conso- unbrokenflow ow oof perpe
perpetually ex ure and timbre,
m a ng texture
ua yimitating mbre ooften en
nances provide easily recognisable 'beacons for the listener in the eschewing
eschew ng ssilence oge her In fact,
ence aaltogether. ence or the
ac ssilence, he lack
ack oof it, iss a
constantflux of the music.'3 As in Grisey's music from this period central
cen ra preoccupa
preoccupation oninnE hers as aalmost
Ethers, mos the he en
entirerework
work iss heard
(Periodes,Partiels) the appearanceof consonantspectrais explicitly against
aga ns a backdropoof gen gentlyy ro
rolled
ed maracas
maracas,a 'composed'
composed rep replace-
ace
linked with maximumrhythmicregularity(or 'periodicity'),creating ment for
men or thehe usua
usual ssilence
ence ('in mag nary as Mura
n any case imaginary,' Murail
clear points of rest and stabilityin the music, away from which pro- points
po n s ou
out) aga ns wh
against whichch we are accus
accustomed
omedtoo listening
s en ng too mus
music. c
gressive deviations are carefully measured and back to which the The maracasfunction unc on as an aud oryscreen through
auditory hrough wh which
ch oneone'ss
music constantlyreturns(thereis a strikingparallelbetweenthis idea ears qu ck y become used too perce
quickly v ng the
perceiving he mus
music, c makmaking ng the
he
and the use of similar 'point of rest' in Birtwistle's works such as moment aat wh
momen whichch they abruptlyyfall
hey abrup en - the
a ssilent he qu musicc in
e es mus
quietest n
Meridian, Silbury air and ...agm... - the more so as these pieces the he en
entirere work - one oof ex extreme
reme shock
shock. Th Thiss iss on
onlyy the
he mos
most
share with Grisey's Espace acoustiques cycle a 'tonic' E around obvious
obv examplee oof Mura
ous examp Murail'ssconcern
concerntoo en enter n oa d
erinto a ogue w
dialogue with h
which everythinggraviates). the he listener's
s ener s percep
perceptions onsand expec a onsin
expectations nhhiss work
work, a concern

June 1993 The Mu ca T me 321

which informs every aspect of the music and has led him to explore beat usua
bea usual in n wes
western
ernmus
music). c The pro ongedacce
prolonged accelerandos
erandosandr
and ritar-
ar
the perceptual thresholds between such apparently distinct cate- dandosin n Mura
Murail'ssmusmusicc d distort
s or and transform
rans ormhe the soundma
soundmaterial
er a inn
gories as harmonyand timbre,rhythmand pitch, form and material, an exextreme
reme fashion:
ash on through
hroughpro ongedacce
prolonged acceleration
era onan an en
entire
remus
musi-
and indeed sound and music. As Murailpoints out, when working cal phrasemay
ca phrase may be compressed into n o a ssingle mpu se The m
ng e impulse. middle
dd e
with computers and synthesisers this latter distinction rapidly section
sec on oof EEthers
hers compresses a subs substantial
an a 40 40-second
second sequence oof
becomes meaningless- electronicsoundsoften have such a complex ra evo
spectral
spec evolution
u on first rs into
n o appog a uras then
appogiaturas, hen into
n o rap
rapidd un
unison
son
and lengthy internal evolution that they are already substantial chords,and finally
chords na y inton o a texture
ex ureoof tremolos
remo osand and fluttertonguing
u er ongu ng(ex. ex
stretchesof music. Transferthat thinkingto live instrumentalmusic 22). Converse
Conversely, y ex
extreme
remerritardation
arda onac actss as a magn
magnifying ass on a
y nggglass
and the distinction between form and material disappears - in a sound, en
sound arg ngit too revea
enlarging reveal more and more de detail
a as it iss aallowed
owed
work such as Ethers,the form of the music is simply the evoution of ncreas ng space in
increasing n wh
which ch too be heard
heard. The last as m minutes
nu es oof Les
its material. courantssde
couran de l'espace 1979 for
espace (1979, or rring-modulated
ng modu a edondes mar martenot
eno and
Consider, too, such hitherto eccentric instrumentalanalogies as orchestra)
orches ra feature
ea urejust
us such a sslowing-up,
ow ng up in n wh
which ch a gra ny sound iss
grainy
complex bell sounds, woodwind multiphonicsor soundsobtainedby progressively
progress ve y en arged too revea
enlarged reveal itss individual
nd v dua impulses
mpu ses whwhich ch are
singing into an instrumentwhile playing:do you hear a timbreor do finally
na y magn
magnified ed too the
he exextent
en thatha just
us one oof them hem occup
occupies es the
he
you hearharmony? These lattersounds are the donne of Ethers,the wholee conc
who ud ng sec
concluding section
on oof thehe work
work. O Of course
course, such p pitch-to-
ch o
initial materialwhich startsthe whole process going. The resultant rhythm
rhy hmtransformations
rans orma onsaand nd magn ca onsoof timbre
magnifications mbrehave
have been pospos-
spectraof simultaneouslysung and played tones can be easily pre- ssible
b e for
or decades by sslowing
ow ng down or speed speeding ngupup soundson
sounds on a tape,
ape
dicted: the sung tone modulatesthe played one, producingsum and but the
bu he freedom
reedom from rom technological
echno og ca res restraints
ra n sand
and literalness
era ness lends
ends
differencetones of the two (ex.1). The harmonyof the opening sec- such transformations,
rans orma ons when transferred rans erredtoo the he pure
purelyy instrumental
ns rumen a
tion of Ethers is entirely derived from such 'ring modulation' music,
mus c a flexibility,
ex b y amb gu y and compu
ambiguity compulsives ve force
orce whwhich
ch makes
them
hem thehe more exc ng anddrama
exciting and dramaticctoo listens en to.
o
PO.Jed nol A prom
#t + nosn
sung , a prominentnen feature
ea ureoof MuraMurail'ss works ssince nce 1980 has been the he
use oof frequency
requencymodu modulationa on(FM)FM - the he compu
computer ersyn hes s me
synthesis method
hod
> discovered
d scoveredby John Chown Chowning4 ng4- for or produc
producing ngsoundcomp exes in
complexes n
r=.:
=3Z'93= h3. Oi
09
Bg- 2 -h3. 655^h3. 13. purelyy instrumental
pure ns rumen amus music. c The lendsends itself
se very we well too grad
grading ngthe
he
(f>Jt1iAtn- 4Ones)
relative
re a ved dissonance
ssonanceor or consonanceo
consonanceof chords- or or, too use spec ra ter-
spectral er
Ex 1: HARMONICMATERIAL
FORBARS1-33 OF ETHERS no ogy the
minology,
m he degree oof 'inharmonicity'
nharmon c y (aa sound iss ca called
ed 'inhar-
nhar
monic'
mon c if itss spec rumoof par
spectrum a sdoes no
partials not obey the he pa ernoof the
pattern he
chords,startingwith just the harmonicsof the resultanttones (on the natural
na ura harmon
harmoniccser es The mechan
series). mechanics csoof this
h s procedureare ssim- m
strings), then gradually descending on to the fundamentalsas the plee enough in
p n ou
outline:
ne the he sum and d difference
erence tones
ones oof two
wo fre-re
flute enterswith the full chord. So what is usually a freakish'effect' ca ed the
quences (called he 'carrier'
carr er and 'modulator')
modu a or yyield e d comp
complexex sounds
in new music is thus coherently integratedinto a context logically halfway
ha way bebetween
ween harmonyand timbre mbre (as as in
n rring
ng modu a on bu
modulation), but
derivedfrom it and in which it makes musical sense. thehe mu p esoof one oof the
multiples he frequencies
requenc es- the he modu
modulating requency-
a ngfrequency
Another area which has persistentlyfascinated Murail is that of may be added into n o the
he process
process. The resu resultss are much more pre pre-
unstable,sliding tempos and the ambiguitiesthey throw up. He has dictable
d c ab eandcon
and controllable
ro ab ethan hanrring
ng modu a on in
modulation, n wh
whichch the
he harmon
harmon-
made a close study of the phenomenologyand psychology of accel- ics
cs oof aall frequencies
requenc esare included,
nc uded creacreatingnga sasaturation
ura onoof resu
resultant
an
eration and deceleration,a complex area involving logarithmically tones
ones wh
whichch qu ck y de
quickly deteriorates
er ora esn intoo no
noise.
se By varyvaryingng the
he ra
ratioooof
varying durations(as opposed to the subdivisionof a uniformbasic thehe carr
carrierertoo the
he modu
modulator a orinn FM
FM, the he resu
resultant
an sound comp
complexesexes

Ex 2 ETHERS© Sa aber UMP and reproduced by perm on

322 The Mu ca T me Jun 1993

 can be made more or less inharmonic;if, for example, the carrier andhorhor, a basbasicc tripartite
r par ep rocessoof ascen
process ascent-culmination
cu m na onpo point-repose
n repose
and modulatorare in a simple whole-numberratioto each other,the iss recyc
recycleded four
our times.
mes Each time
me the
he details
de a of
so the
he processareaaltered, ered
result will be a harmonicseries (or partof it); the less they are, the rhythms
rhy hms and
andharmon
harmonies esd
distorted
s or in
edn varying
vary ngdegrees
degrees, and the
he gestures
ges ures
more inharmonicthe result. correspondingly
correspond ng yrerethought. or g na mus
hough The 'original' musicc from
romwh which ch the
he ddis-
s
In computermusic, FM has been typicallyunemployedto produce tortions
or onsderderiveve iss in
n fact
ac the he third
h rdsec on too be heard
section heard,the he large-scale
arge sca e
timbreswhich are largelyinharmonic,such as bell sounds. Murail's form
orm mov
movingng towards
owardsthe he 'definitive'
de n ve sec section so that
onso ha itss cclimax
maxoccurs
occurs
large orchestralwork Gondwana(1980), a study in bell sounds, is aalmost exactlyy aat the
mos exac he go
goldenden sec
section
on po n oof the
point he who
wholee p ece Mura
piece. Murail
composed solely with FM procedures. The opening chordis shown comparesthis h s mu
multiplep erecompos
recomposition onoof a ssingle
ng e process too Mone Monet'ss
in Ex.3 (for those who wish to do theirsums I have put the first few Rouen Ca Cathedral
hedra pa n ngs in
paintings, n wh
whichch the
he same sub subjectec iss reworked
calculationsbelow the music example),which also shows the orches- from
romd different
eren ang
angles es aat var
various
oustimes day. As if too emphas
mes oof day emphasise sethe
he
trationof the chord;the relativeintensitiesof an FM soundaretaken analogy,
ana ogy Mura
Murailhas the he hom
hom, whwhich
ch intervenes
n ervenesso e y aat the
solely he cu
culminat-
m na
into accountin Murail'sorchestration,as are the characteristicsof a ingng po
pointn oof each secsection,
on p ay from
play rom four
ourd different
eren pos ons(one
positions one per
1R section)
sec on sstarting s age left,
ar ngooffstage e progress
progressing ng across to
o reach centrestage
cen res age
carri'er· A,i.
^.'-*,,- aat the
he third
h rdsec on andconc
section, ud ngthe
concluding hework
workooffstage
s agerright.
gh
I
(y H f2. ln X l *" 1 U Despiteethe
Desp he po
potentially g d doc
en a yrrigid, doctrinaire
r na reccharacter
harac eroof Mura
Murail'ssme meth- h
' ods oof compos ng he iss nonot pr mar yan intellectual
n e ec ua composer but
bu
n. 1n..C1.
H 4 l\'ubo sn1.one{3t composing, primarily composer,
one for or whom techniques
echn ques and theories
heor esrema
remain nsubord
subordinatena etoo aura
aural
n,:
. 'jo
sense and poe mpu se He rema
poeticc impulse. remains nsopen too thehe acc
accidental
den a d discov-
scov
ery, the
ery he chance encoun
encounter, er be ev ng nowadays that
believing ha thehe bes
best way oof
Ex.3: OPENINGSPECTRUM (B.3) - notes in brackets are
OF MURAIL'SGONDWANA realising
rea s ngcompos
compositional ona intentions
n en onsmay frequently
requen ybe found oundby no not try-
ry
not played here (A+B= 599.65 Hz [Trumpet 3]. A-B= 184.35 Hz [Horn 4] ingng too find
nd them:5
hem 5the he very titlee oof h
hiss latest
a es work
work,Serend
Serendip, p iss a testi-
es
A+2B= 807.3 Hz [Trumpet 1] A-2B= 23.3 Hz [not played] A+3B= 1014.95 Hz mony too this.h s Thev
The vividv d cocolours
oursand
andexpress
expressive mmed acyoof h
veimmediacy hiss bes
best
[Clarinet 3] A-3B= 230.95 Hz [Horn 3] etc). work, such as Gondwana
work Gondwana,S ages and Vuesaer
Sillages Vues aeriennesennes prove be betterer
than
hanany verba
verbaljustification
us ca on that
ha Murail's
Mura sis
s music
mus c for
or the
he ear,
ear not
no eye,
eye
typicalbell sonority,with its tendencyto highlighta maintone (G on andexceed
exceedinglyng ybeau
beautiful u mus
musiccaat that.
ha
the second horn), a 'hum' tone (G# on the tuba) and a few higher
frequencies, such as the high Ab on the first clarinet. The ratio The London S n on e a w
Sinfonietta will ggive he UK prem
ve the ere oof Tr
premiere Tristan
s an
between the carrierand the modulatoris far from a whole-number Murail'ss Serend
Mura Serendip
pat
a the
he Royal
Roya Festival
Fes va Hall
Ha on 25 July.
Ju y
one, and so the complex very inharmonic.As the sectionprogresses,
the ratiobetweenthe two becomes increasinglysimple,until a totally Notes
No es
consonantcomplex is arrivedat, which in fact consists of two super- 11. Tr
Tristan
s anMura u ns in
Spec reseet lutins'
Murail,'Spectres n Darms
Darmstidter
d erB e r ge 1982
Beitrige, 1982. 22.
imposedharmonicseries). The hard,bell attackof the chordsis soft- GerardGr sey Programmen
Grisey. note
o e too Par
Partiels
e s (1975).
1975 33. ibid.
b d 44. John
ened into a totally smooth one in the course of a slow but constant Chowning.
Chown ng 'The
The syn hes s oof comp
synthesis complex ex aud
audioo spec
spectraby meanso
raby means of frequency
requency
acceleration,so thatby the end of the sectionthe chordshave merged modulation'
modu a on in
n JAES
JAES,vovol. 21
21, no
no. 77, 1973
1973. 55. Tr
Tristan
s anMura
Murail. 'Questions
Ques onsde
into a haze of trillsfromwhich a new processstarts. b e in
ccible' n En re empsno
Entretemps 8 1989
no.8, 1989.
Murail'smorerecentworkhas delved into the areasof discontinu-
ity, abridgedprocessesand contradictedexpectation. The firstpiece
in the new manner, Desintegrations (1982-83), could not form a
greatercontrastwith Gondwana;whereasthe latterseems to unfold
in a single musicalbreath,Desintegrationsconsists of eleven highly
contrastedsections. The raw materialof the work is derived from
instrumentalspectraanalysedby computer. Successive sections are
based on the timbresof the piano, flute, clarinetand trombone,sub-
jecting themto a varietyof processesincludingsplitting(highlighting
one areaof a spectrumafteranother),progressivestretchingof their
frequencies and frequency modulation. The rhythmic language is
more complex and elusive than in previous works and the rate of
change generally swifter. The role of silence, both for dramatic
effect andas a meansof punctuatingandarticulatingform andphrase
structure,is also vastly increased. Similarly, in Time and again
(1985) and Vues aeriennes (1988) the listener is offered only
glimpsesof a single process,or severaldifferentversionsof the same
process in succession. In Timeand again, the temporalstructureis
constantlybrokenup and enrichedby echoes and distoredmemories
of earlier sections or premonitionsof future ones; the overall goal
towardswhich the structureis propelledbecomes clear only fairly
late in the piece. In Vues aeriennes, scored for piano, violin, cello

June 1993 Th Mu a Tm 323