ABSTRACT
This article outlines a particular mode of composition wherein timbre emerges from micro-level processes of sonic design, on the basis of discrete-time microstructural representations of sound. This approach is characterised in terms of models of detailed sonic design and is described as a unique instance of an indeterministic style of creative thinking in electroacoustic music composition.
The discussion includes examples drawn from early electroacoustic music works (Pousseur, Xenakis, Brim, Stockhausen) and more recent work in computer music, including the author’s own experience with methods of granular synthesis. Finally, we examine the notion of timbre as conceived in the approach under observation, and suggest that timbre composition fosters a profound change of compositional paradigm; indeed, it can challenge a clear-cut dualism between materials and form, and transform the conception itself of musical form into one of processes of timbre formation through time.
