When one hears of György Ligeti’s Atmosphéres, one would immediately think of the 1968 cult film favourite, 2001: Space Odyssey. Atmosphéres’ appearance in the film gained itself widespread recognition and exposure, and this was definitely for a good reason. In Atmosphéres, Ligeti explored unprecedented paradigms of texture, structure, and rhythm that would eventually render this piece to be the avant-garde of the avant-garde. As such, this essay aims to explore Ligeti’s historical background and the new musical techniques he employed in Atmosphéres.
György Ligeti was born on 28 May 1923 in Hungary, to a Jewish family. The Second World War rudely disrupted his studies and Ligeti was subsequently deported to Budapest to work in the army. Even though Ligeti managed to escape the brutal forces of the Nazis, he was taken prisoner by the Russian troops on four separate occasions, managing to escape each time. At this point of his life, Ligeti had already experienced much suffering as a result of WWII. Fortunately, after the war, Ligeti moved back to Budapest and was accepted into the Franz Liszt Academy to continue his education in composition. However, throughout 1948, Stalinism intensified, and the Soviets were beginning to establish a dictatorship. Basic freedom was taken away and cultural activities were banned. As a result, Ligeti never had a chance to explore and innovate as it was violently frowned upon in Hungary.
Ligeti eventually fled Budapest in 1956, crossing into Austria at night on foot. After being exposed to the tyrannies of Hitler and Stalin, Ligeti was finally given the liberty and artistic freedom that he had craved for such a long time. As such, Ligeti naturally turned to the west European avant-garde, then thri...
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...to gradually build up and intertwine with each other, creating an intricate and complexly dense sound.
Through this sound mass, Ligeti creates unity in this piece, as the audience hears a giant atmospheric sound by itself that exists as an independent entity. Thus, Ligeti managed to overcome the challenge that serialism faced through such “alternative paradigms”.
In conclusion, Atmosphéres pushes away conventionally dominant musical elements, such as melody, rhythm and harmony, and instead, took what were previously considered to be the secondary elements of music, and turned them into a flurry of evolving sound. Therefore, Ligeti successfully satisfied the demands for an “alternative paradigm” for music that came along with the “widespread hopes for a new social order”, creating a groundbreaking sound experience that still remains unmatched till this very day.
However, the most fitting work with the concert theme may be Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2. This work is often entitled Company and was originally intended for an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s prose poem entitled Company. This cross-disciplinary collaboration resulted in Glass extracting material from the theatre score and making it a four movement concert work that could stand alone. This 1983 minimalist work is clearly characteristic of Glass’s style in the repeating arpeggios, harmonic language, and his recognizable rhythmic structure. However, the most important aspect of the work in relationship to the other music on the concert may be its inspiration. While Beckett’s work was the inspiration for the Glass’s music, Beckett was also a collaborator in the creation of the staged work. Like the works of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac, Der Blaue Reiter Almanach, and The Onomatopoetic Project, Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2 provides a unique prospective on art through a different medium. This concert is a wonderful example of how music, the visual arts, theatre, and literature can all be used to comment on and inspire one another by simply looking at art through the prospective of all forms of
11. Kim-Cohen, S. 2009. In the Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art
In Steven Connor’s ‘Ears Have Walls: On Hearing Art’ (2005) Connor presents us with the idea that sound art has either gone outside or has the capacity to bring the outside inside. Sound work makes us aware of the continuing emphasis upon division and partition that continues to exist even in the most radically revisable or polymorphous gallery space, because sound spreads and leaks, like odour. Unlike music, Sound Art usually does not require silence for its proper presentation. Containers of silence called music rooms resonate with the aesthetics and affects on the body of a gallery space; white walls, floorboards to create optimum acoustics, and an ethereal sense of time and space. When presented in a gallery space, sound art’s well-known expansiveness and leakiness can be more highly articulated.
For this essay I will be looking at the work of Hans Zimmer to discuss how music in film engages the viewer and evokes emotion and pulls the viewer toward the film. Hans Zimmer is a German born music composer. Hans Zimmer’s love of music stems from his childhood when he learned how to play various instruments. Before Zimmer began composing music for films he was in a well-known band. The band was called The Buggles whom were famous for their song Video Killed the Radio Star. After the Buggles Zimmer played in other bands but never had another hit. As Zimmer has progressed as a film composer so has his list of nominations and awards. Zimmer has won 4 Grammy Awards and 2 Golden Globes and many more for his outstanding film scores. The reason I chose to write this essay on Zimmer was that his genres and music score are extremely versatile ranging from animations to comedy to dark thrillers. This is important to highlight as it shows Zimmer can create almost any atmosphere with his music whether it be sad or creating tension that all cause us to engage with the film. Zimmer's use of themes and introduction of different instruments allowed him to create these wonderful engaging film score. In this essay I will look at three films by Hans Zimmer these are The Holiday Rush and Rain Man.
Music plays a critical role in the narrative films as it is important technique that filmmakers use to support the narrative and influence the way that the viewer interacts, responds and interprets the events as they unfold. The godfather, which is one of all time Hollywood movies, represents a good use of music that succeeded in supporting the dramatic events that take place in the movie. Moreover, both diegetic and non-diegetic music in the godfather movie are used to achieve the overall purpose by using the different principles and functions of film music that range from setting the mood of the viewer to providing continuity within the movie. In this essay, we will take part of the godfather movie in which we can observe and analyse the role of the music in the film (00:30:52- 00:35:52)
Basic terms are often confused when describing an individuals musical sense. Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary defines an artist as somebody who does something with great skill and creativity, and a musician is a music maker who plays, performs, conducts, or composes music, either as a hobby or a profession. The focus of this essay is not the plausible crime of a solely techno creator, or in contrast, the soaring melodies of a humans voice. Technology has tarnished the value of pure talent of music's original creation for the sake of popularity, riches and unnatural perfection.
Western Music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. Throughout these different periods in western music one thing has remained constant, the true essence of music, a way to communicate with someone on a much more divine level than be by rudimentary conversation. Though Ludwig Van Beethoven and Paul McCartney may seem completely opposite they have one in common through their music they changed the world’s perception of its self
Ever since humans first learned how to make music with their voices and with instruments thousands of years ago, music has been changing. Some changes took place over hundreds or even thousands of years, stunted by human isolation or by guidelines set in place by religious institutions. The 20th century, in contrast, experienced several rapid, radical changes in the popular genres of music. This made the 20th century a very rich time period for musical culture. These remarkable genres--including, but not limited to jazz, rock and roll, and the music of the “British invasion”--all influenced one another, and all influenced the culture we still live in today.
Many say that music has evolved over the years. This essay shall explore the elements of two versions of one song. It shall discuss the correlations and disparities of these songs and confer how it has been revolutionised to entertain the audiences of today.
Within much of the musical world, the use of music with varying forms of animation, ranging in type from educational and children’s shows, to historical and basic entertainment genres, have continually been used as cultural constants since the beginning of early television programs. From the early silent black-and-white films of the early 20th century to the Hollywood blockbusters of the modern-day United States and elsewhere, music performed with classical and modern films have played a central role in how people enjoy music. With the importance of music to many global cultures, the need for far-reaching cultural icons is quite important through film and animation as well, helping to attract a wide range of viewers. Even in the realm of animation, many musical compositions are highly popular as a result of well-regarded animated films and shows. One portion of the world where animation is held in higher regard outside of the West is in Japan, where Japanese animation, also simply known as “anime” is often a popular facet of life than can been seen in many parts of Japanese life. In some instances such as shopping, watching television shows, and even during the daily commute to work in some cases, anime is a well-seen part of Japanese life for many individuals. Given that the artistic genre of anime itself can be seen in different views, the music within this animation style can be seen the same way as well, drawing influences from multiple musical genres to create songs and themes are inherently tied to a certain show. The influence of the music that is present in many anime shows is very distinct and varied, as there is no clear distinction between what can be considered as a genre that can be anime-...
What would the world be like without music? The world would be a very silent place. Music is in many ways the material of our lives and the meaning of society. It is a reminder of how things were in the old days, a suggestion of how things are, and a view of where society is leading to. Music is the direct reflection of the picture of art, music, and literature. Music can be a way to deliver messages, being poetic, a fine art, or it can just be for entertainment. No matter what it is used for, music is the perfect art there is and there are various types of music; such as classical and romantic. This paper will discuss how classical music and romantic music had a turning point in humanity’s social or cultural development, and how they have
There has yet to be a culture discovered which lacks music. Making music is seen historically to be as fundamental as the characteristically human activities as drawing and painting. Many even go so far as to compare music to language and claim that music functions as a "universal language." But it is rarely the same music, however, that all peoples respond to. What is it that we are responding to when we listen to music? Strictly speaking, music is not a language, (1) because it has neither outside referents nor easily detectable meaning. Ludwig Wittgenstein explains that although we understand music in a similar way as we understand language, music is not a language because we still cannot communicate through music as we can through language. (2) More recently, Susanne Langer argues that although we understand music as symbol, because we are so caught up in seeing symbolic form function like language we tend to want to make music into a language. But, Langer argues, music is not a kind of language (3) because the significance of music lies not in w...
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
Throughout this semester we have discussed an array of musical periods ranging from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to more recent modern times. As music progressed through time certain concepts such as melody, harmony, and texture changed along with the introduction of different instruments. In the early phases of music it was more directed toward religious ceremonies, but as time went on it became integrated into everyday life. Even though musical dynamics seem to change as the years go on, it has never failed to create some form of emotional response such as laughter or sadness.
John Cage (1912-1992) presents an attractive challenge to a music GSI teaching a class of non-majors. As much an idea man as a pen-on-paper composer, Cage proposed through his writings and artistic approach that all sound, whether deliberate or accidental, whether inside or outside of the concert hall, is in fact a macro-series of musical events. In effect, according to this way of thinking, all ambient sound is music. Considering the way most of us have been brought up to think about music, this is a significant imaginative leap as well as an important door to open for those who might not come across the idea elsewhere.