Spectral World Musics

Written from a variety of perspectives by experts in such fields asComposition Ethnomusicology Historical Musicology Performance andImprovisation this collection of papers sheds new light on thehistory of timbre and spectral thinking As Robert Reigle explains inhis important Introduction Some musics around the world clearlyforeground timbre and these may unambiguously be called spectralmusics The Istanbul Spectral Music Conference at which thesepapers were presented therefore redefined spectral music toencompass any music foregrounding timbre as an important element ofstructure or musical language The organizers initiated this holisticapproach to the idea of spectral music to make explicit the importanceof timbre as a near universal concern of music making and toestablish timbre as a central and applied component of musicaldiscourse By including ethnomusicologists they acknowledged thevital role of timbre throughout the world history of music while atthe same time recognizing the importance of the Spectral School thatoriginated in Romania and France as both a catalyst spurring dialogueacross disciplines and one of the major aesthetic movements of ourtime