Tristan Murail: Gondwana; D?sint?grations; Time and Again
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Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 2004-05-18
Music Label: Disques Montaigne
Free Music Notes for Tristan Murail: Gondwana; D?sint?grations; Time and Again
Free Music Review: Three massive ensemble works by one of the major figures of the spectralist approach
Hit: 4 Stars
Tristan Murail belongs to that generation of French composers who found the serialist aesthetic limiting and wanted to pursue a new style based in the actual phenomena of sound. These composers became known as the spectralists, but each of them directed their common interest in overtones, electronics, alternate tunings etc. towards very individual paths. This Naive disc is a good place to encounter Murail's work, featuring three of his early pieces for orchestra.
"Desintegrations" for tape and ensemble (1983) is one of the great spectralist masterpieces, endlessly studied and called by many later composers a milestone in new music. As the title suggests, the musical material is based entirely on sound spectras. Murail decomposed various instrumental sounds (especially piano, brass and cello) into their overtones, and then assigned these to the performers, while the tape part is based on artificial spectra generated by electronics. The result is a massive sound mass, sure to appeal to fans of Xenakis and Ligeti. It's quite varied too, with among many other things lovely section of bell chimes, some crunching orchestral sounds, and an ear-tickling exhibition of interference tones.
Though the Ensemble L'itinerarire was founded by the spectralists, there is another performance of the piece out with the Ensemble Intercontemporain lead by David Robertson. I favour that EIC recording because it was made at IRCAM and has clearer sound, though the actual performance differs little from here, possibly since any conductor would be a slave of the tape part.
If "Desintegrations" goes all over the place, "Gondwana" for orchestra (1980) is much more about stasis. Musical ideas are put forward and then allowed to repeat at great length, while development goes by nearly unperceived. It's incredible here what weird sonorities Murail has come up with totally without the use of electronics. Again we find many bell-like sounds, which seem to be Murail's own personal approach to spectralism compared to other composers in that vein. In "Time and Again" for orchestra and electronics (1985) the composer gives a succession of musical items which each return, though they are often distorted and everything is layered in a nearly impenetrable fog. Only at the end does this fog lift and we hear the real heart of the work, before everything fades out with some really cool weird murmurming like Morse code heard through static.
While this disc is often touted as a good introduction to spectralism, I rather prefer Grisey's cycle LES ESPACES ACOUSTIQUES, as each of its parts is so transparent in construction. Nonetheless, if you like contemporary music, Murail is a figure worth encountering and these are some fine pieces. I merely retract a star for the less than ideal recording quality.
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