Sound resonance is used as a model for the elaboration of timbral patterns and sections of different temporal dimensions. The method, derived from StГ©phane Roy's gestaltist analysis, uses a graphic sonogram transcription. The last part of the article concerns the gestaltist analysis of timbre in Murail's Territoires de l'oubli, a piano piece based on gradual and highly nuanced timbral transformation. This analysis shows how the timbral tension at different structural levels can be represented, as well as the end-orientation of a piece in a post-tonal context. Using a method derived from Fred Lerdahl's study on timbral hierarchies combined with sonogram analysis, the piece is divided into eight timbral units represented in the form of a syntactic tree. The second part of the article focuses on the hierarchical analysis of timbre in Dutilleux's Sur un mГЄme accord, a short piano piece constructed on a basic 'reference' chord. In non-tonal music, theoretical and experimental studies on timbral hierarchies and tension-release schemas have opened new paths for research into vectoriality without reference to the tonal system.

To date, vectoriality has mainly focused on pitch analysis, but timbre has also given rise to studies about its role in both musical tension and musical closure. aesthetic considerations, as evidenced by the notion of 'time's arrow', and focus more on cognitive approaches to the real-time analysis of score-based music. Such notions are taken to be beyond more purely. The first part is devoted to theoretical considerations of timbral vectoraility as a key element in the perceptive experience of music, whereby vectoriality functions as a process encompassing succession, orientation, expectation, and tension. This article addresses a number of issues concerning timbral vectoriality in post-tonal western art music. The resulting analyses demonstrate the intricate ways in which timbre and orchestration come to bear on the creation and reception of music. Specifically, orchestral effects employed by the composer are analyzed in light of three perceptual grouping processes: concurrent grouping, sequential grouping, and segmental grouping. Taking examples from Roger ReynoldsвЂ™ The Angel of Death, this chapter proposes several achievable short-term objectives that will help develop the elements necessary for a theory of orchestration, which are in turn based on the psychology of timbre perception and music analysis. demonstrate formal principles of orchestration from the vantage point of perceptual and cognitive processes and to show how a contemporary composer makes use of these processes in realizing a sonic work of art. Orchestration is defined as the judicious selection, combination, and juxtaposition of instruments toward achieving a desired sonic aim. This is perhaps due to the lack of theoretical understanding underlying the perception and deployment of timbre. Until fairly recently, analyses of music have long ignored orchestration as a structuring force in composition. This exploration will be framed within an examination of historical and contemporary discussion of orchestral effects and techniques. We will explore how concurrent grouping cues result in blended combinations of instruments, how sequential grouping into segregated melodies or stratified (foreground and background) layers is influenced by timbral similarities and dissimilarities, and how segmental grouping cues create formal boundaries and expressive gestural shaping through changes in instrumental textures. Analyses of orchestration treatises and musical scores reveal an implicit understanding of auditory grouping principles by which many orchestral effects and techniques function. This chapter will outline connections between the orchestration practices of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and perceptual principles based on recent research in auditory scene analysis and timbre perception.

The study of timbre and orchestration in music research is underdeveloped, with few theories to explain instrumental combinations and orchestral shaping.

Dutilleux piano sonata piano sonority