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Sound masses: Xenakis, Ligeti and Penderecki
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Genre
Sound masses: Xenakis, Ligeti and Penderecki · Around 1955 composers let go of melody and wrote with sound masses: clouds of dozens of voices that each do something slightly different, so that you hear only the whole. Iannis Xenakis, an architect with Le Corbusier, calculated the gliding strings of Metastaseis with mathematics; the piece was premiered in Donaueschingen in 1955. In Atmosphères (1961), György Ligeti had an orchestra slowly shift in colour, and Krzysztof Penderecki wrote his Threnos for the victims of Hiroshima (1960) for 52 strings.
Listening
Listening tip. Listen to Atmosphères and notice that there is no melody and no beat: dozens of instruments play notes lying right next to one another, and the sound slowly changes colour, like a cloud.
Atmosphères (Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado) · György Ligeti, 1961
Metastaseis (SWF-Sinfonieorchester, Hans Rosbaud) · Iannis Xenakis, 1954
Threnos voor de slachtoffers van Hiroshima (Pools Nationaal Radio-Symfonieorkest, Penderecki) · Krzysztof Penderecki, 1960
See also
Categories: Genres