Désintégrations

Désintégrations (1983), for chamber orchestra and magnetic tape, is one of the most representative works by Tristan Murail and spectral music.

Désintégrations was composed after in-depth study of the concept of "spectrum." All the material in the piece (both the tape and the orchestral score), its microforms, and its evolutionary systems, derive from the analysis, decomposition, or artificial reconstruction of harmonic or inharmonic spectra.
Most of these spectra are of instrumental origin. Piano bass, brass, and cello sounds were particularly prominent.
Magnetic tape does not attempt to reconstruct instrumental sounds. The latter serve only as models or material for the construction of timbres or harmonies (for me, there is little difference between these two notions), and also for the construction of musical forms. Many types of spectral treatments are used in the piece:

Fractionation: only a region of the spectrum is used (for example, bell sounds at the beginning and end obtained by fractioning piano sounds).
Filtering: certain components are highlighted or eliminated.
Spectral exploration (movements within the sound): the partials are listened to one after the other, the timbre becomes melody (for example, in the third section, small bell sounds that come from the disintegration of clarinet and flute timbres).
Creation of spectra inharmonic, "linear" by adding or subtracting a frequency (by analogy with ring modulation or frequency modulation), "nonlinear" by twisting a spectrum or describing a frequency curve (for example, in the penultimate section, progressive twisting of a low trombone sound).

The tape was created using additive synthesis: each component of a sound is described in all its dimensions. This allows for extremely precise and analytical manipulation of the spectra and brings the synthesis and composition processes closer together, to the point that the tape was truly "written" before being created. The orchestral writing also benefited from the power of the computer, for the definition of pitches and durations and even for the design of some microforms. Tape and instruments thus proceed from the same source and are complementary. Often, the tape highlights the character of the instruments, diffracts or disintegrates their timbre, or amplifies orchestral effects. It must be perfectly synchronized, hence the need for synchronization clicks that the conductor must follow.
The two sources, instrumental and synthetic, are almost always fused and contribute to creating new sonic moments or musical paths; the musical discourse often plays on the ambiguity between these two sources, the ultimate goal being to erase all differences between a priori distinct sonic worlds.
Music proceeds along paths rather than through distinct sections. Each moment emphasizes a particular spectral treatment, each path allows the musical material to evolve in various ways, between harmony and inharmonicity, shadow and light, simplicity and complexity. Precise contours emerge from fluid objects, order arises from rhythmic chaos, sounds evolve incessantly, deforming, changing nature.

Tristan Murail — Désintégrations (1983), for chamber orchestra and magnetic tape.

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