2021/06/01 by James Donaldson · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Computer Science · Neuroscience · Mathematics · #Musicology and Musical Analysis #Music Technology and Sound Studies #Neuroscience and Music Perception #Liminality #Prologue #Ambiguity #Musical #Differential (mechanical device) #Function (biology) #Melody #Focus (optics) #Linguistics #Art #Mathematics #Aesthetics #Literature #Philosophy #Physics #Optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.30535/mto.27.2.9
openalex publication_date 2021/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This article explores the expressive and formal role of melody in spectral and “post-spectral” music. I propose that melody can function within a spectral aesthetic, expanding the project of relating unfamiliar musical parameters to “liquidate frozen categories” (Grisey 2008 [1982], 45). Accordingly, I show how melody can shift in and out of focus relative to other musical elements. I adopt Grisey’s use of the terms differential and liminal to describe relationships between two musical elements: differential refers to the process between distinct elements whereas liminal describes moments of ambiguity between two elements. I apply these principles to Grisey’s Prologue (1976), Vivier’s Zipangu (1977), Haas’s de terrae fine (2001), and Saariaho’s Sept Papillons (2000).