The role of texture in French spectral music by Kari E Bersharse

A return to Counterpoint and Melody

‘Hurel and other spectral composers researched psychoacoustics and the phenomena of auditory streaming. This allowed them to explore the phenomenon of fused textures, and juxtapose different textural streams based on concrete research.

Additionally, later spectral music shows a return to a more melodic style of writing. This use of melody is, at times, very close to the traditional, linear, and direction oriented melody of the Classical and Romantic periods. Repetition and motivic development, though as the result of spectral process, seem to be used in very traditional ways, to guide and entice the listener. Melodic writing has become very prominent in the music of Saariaho and Murail, the latter of whom has written that, As time went on, we also sough to introduce, with much care and hesitation, ideas which were closer to the traditional dialectic. This also applies to melody. It took me a very long time to re-introduce truly melodic elements into my music, because I was afraid of returning to past melodic clichés, falling back into formulas of theme and variation of all sorts. I wanted to find very personal melodic contours, and this is one of the hardest things to do, since, today, everything melodic is connotated to a frightening degree. On a formal leverl, too, it is not my goal to return to the Romantic dialectic, nor to develop fragmented forms that would simply be a return to the conceits of the fifties.’ P. 123

‘Counterpoint and Polyphony

Polyphony was defined as a texture containing two or more independent melodic lines sounding at the same time. A slight distinction was made between polyphony, which is a freer context, and counterpoint, which seems to imply stric pitch, rhythmic, and directional relationships between the voices. According to theorist Jane Piper Clendinning, in counterpoint, the lines are combined according to some system that controls their harmonic interaction.

In rehearsal mark 15 in Grisey’s Talea (1985-86), a prismatic contrapuntal texture of similar and contrary motion unfolds at a fast speed. The lines consist of ascending and descending spectral materials linearised as arpeggios and scales. Prior to this, at the beginning of the passage (rehearsal mark 1), slowly ascending scales are imitated by lines with slight microtonal and rhythmic differences. This slow, scalar material alternates with sort, rapid heterophonic gestures. This process steadily speeds up to create the wave-like figures. Each instrument plays its “wave” at different rates so that none are perfectly in sync, and none are precisely opposite, although at the close of the passage, they do align rhythmically. The underlying process that governs this section directly affects the texture and creates a situation where the listener perceives texture as the most important musical element. 
Because the lines are rhythmically distinct, rise and fall at different times, and have dynamic profiles emphasising the motion, a clear contrapuntal texture is created.’ P. 124, 125

‘Although Karina Saariaho’s compositional style emphasise timbre, her melodic phrasing is similar to traditional melodic lines in their use of tension and relaxation. Saariaho often uses flute and cello as solo instruments. In her orchestral work “... a la funee” (1990), the alto flute and cello are the designated soloists, and they frequently interact with one another in a dialógica manner. At rehearsal mark H, their rhythmic and melodic lines are complimentary and distinct, creating a contrapuntal relationship with one another. There is also light accompaniment provided by strings and flutes.’ P. 125, 126

‘In Tristan Murail’s work L’spirit des dunes’ (1994), the melodic use of spectra is structurally significant. In many parts of this work, the melodic fragments are passed around in a dialógica manner between the woodwinds and synthesiser. Because the individual voices remain strong and distinct, these melodic lines are heard as a polyphonic texture.’ P. 126

‘In Tristan Murail’s work ‘L’Espirit des dunes’, melody appears throughout the work, created from the spectra that provide the foundation for the entire piece. In Murail’s ‘Winter Fragments’, melody is also used extensively, and the entire work is based on a melodic fragment from Grisey’s Prologue for solo viola, which steadily emerges throughout the piece.

Even in later works by Grisey, melody can take on an important structural role. Towards the end of Talea, the spectrum begins to appear in melodic form. It seems to be acting sad a clarifying element in a work that has used mainly heterophonic, contrapuntal, and static sound mass textures. Just after rehearsal mark 49, the flute begins to play fragments of the spectrum. This idea is extended and developed next by the clarinet and then tossed back to the flute. The clarine and flute are marked morto expressivo, their contours share pitch and interval lid material, and show signs of motivic development.’ P. 127, 128