ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some light on the inner workings of several aspects of the music: overall and individual form; texture and continuity; pitch organization, both harmonic and intervallic; and motive and gesture. All of the factors in combination contribute to the impression of stylistic development and concentrated expression in the music. Olivier Messiaen's Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux, written in 1985, comprises what appears to be a very modest element of his compositional output. The parallel chord successions so distinctive to Messiaen's music are completely absent in the Robin pieces, contributing to the stylistic paring-down. Messiaen's focus shifts constantly, mercurially, among the various dimensions, from measure to measure, veering from pitch organization to shape and direction to accentual profile to texture to colour. The discussion on the whole lacks the emphasis on relatedness, musical logic, and structural connections that many of us have come to expect from analysis.
