Readings of a Work: a musical analysis of All Round Me by Russell Pinkston

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the electroacoustic composition All Round Me by Russell Pinkston. We present three main analytical aspects: (1) identification and classification of materials of each section based on Dennis Smalley’s theory of spectro-morphology and Michel Chion’s metaphorical description of sound objects; (2) representation of materials through graphical transcriptions to illustrate the structuring and transformation of these materials throughout the work; (3) narrative description based on the idea of representation of spirit-manifestations. Sonographic and spectral analyses were used as support for the spectro-morphological identification of sound objects. We sought to demonstrate that the listener of All Round Me is an active participant while being a subject of discourse, confronting throughout the aesthetic experience of the composition with the tension between life and death represented by the states of closeness and remoteness from (sound) spirit-manifestations.