ABSTRACT
Noise when applied to music has moved from being a predictably pejorative term as a negative reaction to a sound or set of sounds. The noise becomes a felt physical force a physical phenomenon in space which the body cannot avoid. However, Neubauten's noise often contains so much texture that the incommunicable seems to communicate. Listening does not give way to hearing or the loss of the ability to distinguish sounds, which Hegarty suggests can occur in experiencing noise-music. Although the work of Neubauten and of Xenakis operate through different means, examples of this shared sound quality lie in the multi-layered metallic sounds, the abrupt changes and the frequent moving sound masses which are interrupted by a variety of interfering, destabilizing peripheral noises. One aspect does emerge from this seemingly open-ended debate on the definition and purpose of noise' that is the need for a art of listening.
