Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti's Problem, and His Solution

Bernard, Jonathan W.

doi:10.2307/854203

Cited by 23 publications

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“…Ligeti's sound masses easily reflect the principles of statistical form, since they are necessarily defined by their outer limits. Recent graphic analyses also testify to the fact that Ligeti's sound masses are amenable to spatial representations that show boundaries and shape (Bauer 1997, Bernard 1987and Clendinning 1995). An early sketch for Atmosphères, transcribed in Fig.…”

Section: Ligeti and Sound-mass Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Form amongst the Darmstadt School

Iverson¹

2014

Music Analysis

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This article analyses the Darmstadt composers' discourse around the concept of ‘statistical form’ in the mid‐ to late 1950s and early 1960s. Stockhausen introduced this terminology in a 1954 analysis of Debussy's Jeux, but the real inspiration lies in the nascent electronic music studio. Using score and sketch analysis, published writings and correspondence, I show how Ligeti, Boulez and Pousseur also made critical contributions to the definition and application of statistical form in music. Along the way I introduce foundational concepts from information theory and show how they were disseminated in Moles's and Meyer‐Eppler's teachings and writings. Via information theory, I investigate how Xenakis's early stochastic sound‐mass music and Cage's aleatory techniques are related to statistical form. Ultimately, I show that a network of shared ideas underlies statistical form, even when debate characterises the discourse and each composer's musical rendering of the concept is distinct. In closing, the article suggests that statistical form represents a second stage of serialism, precipitating a move towards density and texture in sound that was shared by many in the Darmstadt circle.

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Section: Ligeti and Sound-mass Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Form amongst the Darmstadt School

Iverson¹

2014

Music Analysis

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“…Thus, according to Ligeti, this practice would have led to the reduction of interval sensitivity, therefore favoring structures developed primarily by density relations and disposition of pitch registers and not by its interval content (usually chromatically homogeneous). 1 Nevertheless, the disciplined use of the series, even in its various versions and possible overlaps can ensure a statistical control of the appearance of all pitchclasses.…”

Section: -Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositional Design Based on Stochastic Procedures

Pitombeira

Santos²

2017

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In this article, we discuss the application of stochastic music techniques in an aesthetic context different from that originally employed by Xenakis. These techniques applied in the serialism of pitch-classes were the basis for the creation of a computer program with the purpose to determine the duration and the harmonic profiles of pre-compositional materials from restrictions set by the composer. The resulting data, obtained by the exponential probability distribution, allowed us to plan and compose two works: one for pierrot ensemble and other for string quartet.

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“…Bernard (, pp. 207–36) cites micropolyphony as Ligeti's solution in response to perceived problems of serialism.…”

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confidence: 99%

RESISTING CLOSURE: THE PASSACAGLIA FINALE FROM GYÖRGY LIGETI'S LE GRAND MACABRE

Edwards¹

2015

Music Analysis

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The Passacaglia finale from György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre (1974–7, rev. 1996) has been described as a point of stylistic crisis, marking Ligeti's return to more traditional compositional means. Consonances and tonal allusions in the music are regarded as indicative of this retrospective tendency. However, notions of functional hierarchy or even pitch centres do little to explicate the underlying processes that contribute to the sense of perpetual unfurling in the Passacaglia. Contained within the resistance to tonal teleology is a process of differentiation in the pitch material. In this respect, the Passacaglia might be considered a further development in Ligeti's continuing effort to inject process into musical material, albeit with increasing levels of intervallic transparency. I further substantiate this argument by situating the analytical findings in this article in a historical context.

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Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti's Problem, and His Solution

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

Statistical Form amongst the Darmstadt School

Statistical Form amongst the Darmstadt School

Compositional Design Based on Stochastic Procedures

RESISTING CLOSURE: THE PASSACAGLIA FINALE FROM GYÖRGY LIGETI'S LE GRAND MACABRE

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