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Electroacoustic music, a flourishing medium for over half a century, remains today, in a wide array of technological forms, one of the major areas of creative activity in music. However, it has long been overlooked in theoretical studies-possibly in part because it does away with traditional scores and notation. In this landmark collection, a group of distinguished composers and theorists who have actively worked in the field present detailed analyses of important electroacoustic works while also demonstrating some recent approaches to the analysis of the music of this medium. Included here are discussions of such significant works as Karlheinz Stockhausen's
Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/56), Iannis Xenakis'
Diamorphoses (1957), and Jean-Claude Risset's
Contours (1982). Overall, the collection aims to elucidate the sonic design of each of the electroacoustic music works under investigation, using its best examples as a lens through which to examine an unduly neglected genre.
Demonstrating recent techniques in the analysis of electroacoustic music, the volume also considers various compositional approaches as well as computer applications that have become an irreplaceable tool in the composing of this music. So little has been written about this 20th-century art form that
Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives is at once a fresh, bold step forward in musicology and analysis.
List of contents
Foreword by Jean-Claude Risset
Introduction by Thomas Licata
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/1956)
"Through the Sensory Looking-Glass: The Aesthetic and Serial Foundations of Gesang der Jünglinge" by Pascal Decroupet and Elena Ungeheuer
Iannis Xenakis: Diamorphoses (1957)
"Diamorphoses by Iannis Xenakis" by Thomas DeLio
Gottfried Michael Koenig: Essay (1957/1958)
"Koenig--Sound Composition--Essay" by Konrad Boehmer
Luigi Nono: Omaggio a Emilio Vedova (1960)
"Luigi Nono's Omaggio a Emilio Vedova" by Thomas Licata
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Telemusik (1966)
"Serial Composition, Serial Form, and Process in Karlheinz Stockhausen's Telemusik" by Jerome Kohl
Otto Laske: Terpsichore (1980)
"Subscore Manipulation as a Tool for Composition and Sonic Design" by Otto Laske
Jean-Claude Risset: Contours (1982)
"A Story of Emergence and Dissolution: Analytical Sketches of Jean-Claude Risset's Contours" by Agostino Di Scipio
James Daschow: Sequence Symbols (1984)
Looking Into Sequence Symbols" by James Daschow
Joji Yuasa: A Study in White (1987)
"Oppositional Dialectics in Joji Yuasa's The Sea Darkens" by Kristian Twombly
Index
About the author
THOMAS LICATA is Assistant Professor of Music at Hartwick College in New York where he coordinates the composition, music theory, and computer programs.
Summary
In this collection, a group of distinguished composers and theorists who have actively worked in the field of electronic music, present detailed analyses of important electroacoustic works, while also demonstrating some recent approaches to the analysis of the music of this medium.
