5 - Psychoacoustics and the New Compositional Framework (1973–1974)

Summary

In 1972, Grisey and Murail were resident together at the Villa Medici in Rome as Prix de Rome winners. It was during this period that they first discussed together ideas regarding compositional techniques related to psychoacoustics and computer sound synthesis. This chapter explores each composer’s work during the period, which laid the foundation for the subsequent collective French spectral movement. Murail’s music, from Couleur de mer through Altitude 8000 onwards, sought to move away from the austerity of pointillist serialism towards sonorous beauty and poetic colour, aligning him to some degree with symbolist aesthetics. Grisey engaged in in-depth psychoacoustics self-study through reading books by Leipp and Winckel, books which outline what became known as the spectral attitude, and in Dérives he finally established his mature musical style. The chapter shows how, for each composer, meeting Scelsi was significant.