I know these usually come on Monday but this week I need to get it out early. I’ll be sort of tied up tomorrow as I’m going under the knife. It’s nothing major. Just enough to pre-empt a blog post or two.

French Composer Tristan Murail
(b. March 11, 1947)
I’m riding the momentum of an inspiring evening. Last night was spent with a group of friends at a very interesting gathering, the purpose of which was to share the experience of music. I left it with a lot of new discoveries that will soon be added to the collection. This is why today I am making music the subject of my weekly series on France.

When I sat down to write this post I thought of some of what I’d heard last night and recalled that one of the recordings was by a modern composer. That seemed fitting, so I did a Google search on “modern French composers”. This led me to a Wikipedia entry on “Music of France”, and then to another entry on “spectral music” (which I’ll touch on later) and, finally, to an entry on Tristan Murail. After reading all of that, I went to the iTunes Store to download some of his music. Then I listened. And I started to dig.

Spectral Music
When I said I would “touch on” spectral music I really meant it. Touching on it is about the best that I can manage. At first, I was simply intrigued by the term “spectral music” on a fairly superficial level. It sounded cool. I’d never heard of it, even back when I studied a little about modern compositional techniques. Back then we learned about things like twelve tone composition and serialism. Spectral music (or spectralism) sounded very mysterious and promising. Well, it is, but not for the reasons I first thought.

In the simplest terms, spectral music got its name through the use of computers to generate spectral analysis of timbre which then serves as the basis of composition. Practitioners are quick to point out that these analyses are only part of the process. At its heart, spectral music is really music that is driven by a focus on the nature, characteristics, juxtaposition and evolution (or mutation) of sound. So, rather than arranging sounds primarily according to pitch, for example, they are arranged according to their place in a given timbral spectrum. This can yield some pretty surprising instrumentation, since the relationships between sounds are established on an almost purely mathematical level.

It’s pretty heady stuff. A lot of Modern techniques can be difficult to relate to without some kind of introduction. Spectral music is no exception. But this is where Murail differs.

About the Composer
Tristan Murail was born in Le Havre in 1947. His training in music included four years studying composition with Olivier Messiaen. His first published work was a piece called Couleur de Mer in 1969. From that point on he continued to create pieces for a slew of instrumentations, including some works for electric guitar. His most well-known piece is Gondwana (1980) which was written for orchestra. It’s considered one of the most important works in the spectral style. Murail now lives in New York and teaches composition at Columbia.

Machines Made Human
Some of the music we listened to last night was electronic music heralded for its humanity. That’s no small feat in the world of machine-aided composition. Murail brings that same quality to his work. There is an element–a certain humanity–that conveys the composer’s belief that all of the machinery and computation is there to serve the larger purpose of creating music for people.

I’m listening to music from an album entitled “Murail: Winter Fragments”. In particular, I’m really enjoying a piece called Unanswered Questions Pour Flûte which, without researching to confirm, seems to be an homage to the legendary Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question. Murail presents a striking contemplation on Ives’ theme which begins as feeling quite familiar and then evolves into something entirely distinctive and fresh.

As I attempt to describe this music, worn-out old adjectives like “haunting” and “ethereal” keep coming to my mind. Try to look past my limitations as a writer here. Take a few minutes to listen to the previews of Murail’s work on iTunes. I think you’ll find the machines virtually undetectable.

Let’s Learn About France! is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek weekly series where I attempt to overcome the enmity between the United States and France by sharing something new that I’ve learned about our French brethren. Consider it a goodwill mission.