Julian Anderson

Today I had a supervision with Julian Anderson.

We talked about spectralism - techniques, ideas and some examples. Julian, explained how the transformation of sound into a noise, or vise-versa (with some orchestrations or timbral modifications) work; explained how a sound or a noise could be considered (for example, a dense or wide noise, a dense or wide sound; a thin or elementary noise, elementary sound, etc. - according to the sound-axes of Radulescu, Grisey and Saariaho). We also discussed the harmonic series, both mathematically and sonically, including its consonance and its fractal, self-reflective aspects. To conclude, Julian explained inhamronic spectra: sounds that are not totally harmonic but, also, are not noise. Such sounds are indeed having complex timbral characteristics, for example: bell or gongs. He also explained in detail how spectral music plays upon the differences between categories - for example between harmony and timbre, between rhythm and pitch, etc. Julian, also explained something of the preoccupation these composers have with musical and psychological time, and the perception of the listener.

All the meeting was fascinating and very enlightening. Now, I am trying to connect my work on the past to some spectral ideas.

I will start to search composers who where engaged or engage with spectral techniques, as for example, Julian Anderson, Kaija Saariaho, Ligeti and Per Norgard.