Tristan Murail: Gondwana (1980) for orchestra

Orchestre National de France, Yves Prin (conductor) (live recording, Radio-France, 20 December, 1980)
publisher: éditions Transatlantiques/Music Sales Classical
The title has two meanings. It is an ancient Indian legend about a vast, sunken continent, as well as the name geologists have given to one of the two giant landmasses which once comprised the earth's entire dry land and whose break-up has gradually formed the contours of the various continents on the earth today. The music mirrors this process in its perpetual drifting and transformation: certain elements of a texture are gradually exaggerated or deformed to create a new texture. For example, the haze of trills for full orchestra, which occurs about three minutes into the piece, is progressively extended into scales and, eventually, wide spanning arpeggios - the series of regular clicks on the wood-block, a few minutes later, are gradually pulled out of phase to generate several different pulses and layers. At certain moments, the music is violently accelerated or decelerated, compressing the transformation processes to such an extent that they can seem almost like a complete break. A pervading use of regular, periodic rhythms and sequential passages allows the listener to measure the progress of the music and the rate at which it is being transformed.
Gondwana continues Murail's innovative use of electronic techniques as generators of instrumental music. In this case, the harmony is generated by frequency modulation, a method of tone-production often used in digital synthesizers (Yamaha's DX instruments, for example). This gives rise to complex, untempered chorals which have a bell-like sonority. Another important element in the piece is the fluctuation between moments of "noise" (in the acoustic sense of "white noise"), represented by scratching or col legno on the strings, toneless breathing on woodwind or brass and by percussion instruments (maracas, sizzle cymbal and snare drum) and moments of "sound" represented by clean, pure instrumental colours and consonant harmony close to the natural harmonic series. These two opposing and autonomous elements can interpenetrate or "influence" each other.
The music abounds in wave-like patterns of rise and fall, such as crescendo-decrescendo, acceleration-deceleration and tension-relaxation. If these waves of sound recall the legendary, sunken Gondwana, the geological Gondwana's turbulent history is vividly evoked in the music's more dramatic moments, especially in the volcanic "eruption" near the end of the work.
from texts by Julian Anderson
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video image: Kepler-186f, the First Earth-size Planet in the Habitable Zone (Artist's Concept) (NASA) - more info here: www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasa...
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For promotional/educational purposes only. Will be promptly removed at copyright holder's request.

[@sonicsnap1173]

Brilliant! Tristan Murail is one of the greatest living composers!

[@user-mr5td2uc6p]

spotifyで聴きたいお💥👊😭💦💦💦

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

that is a very mature and no-dandy avant-garde sound. i saw him every they in Mozarteum but had nothing to talk about until i hear this now too late. He is gone from Mozarteum, like all the great minds, Adriana Holzky for ex. But need to say that his presence was very weird

[@gerardbegni2806]

Tristan Murail founded with Grerad Grisey who pazssed away too early the so-caeed "spectral" school which is intetrested in handling the component of the sound itself rather than the arragement of notes and their chracteristics like in simple or grnrtraliezd serialism. The composerrs of this school wrote infidputed masterpieces like 'les expaces acoustiques' of Gerard Grisey, a vast concentric set of piece, or this one by Tristan Murail. Other major present composers were freely inpired by spectral technioques, like Kaija Saariaho, xho is meeing a significant interest from present music lovers.

[@acr08807]

I never once fidputed a single Murail or Grisey masterpiece.

[@docsketchy]

@@acr08807 I'll bet you didn't! However, I'm very much interested to learn more about this grnrtraliezd serialism. Evidently, it has nothing to do with typographic serialism, where the prevailing philosophy posits that letters must be presented in a certain order (or "letter row" (sometimes known as "word")) in order to convey meaning.

[@MegaCirse]

Cher ami, aviez vous des problèmes avec votre clavier de PC ? ............. ;)

[@gerardbegni2806]

@@MegaCirse De fait j'ai une très muvzise vue et l'éclairage le soir de mon ordinateur n'est pas boen. Mis je me fltte d'avoir encore une bonne oreille :-)

[@sojarvoglarcrt4602]

You can't miss the typical French colourism in this composition.

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

very nice the description

[@JanCarlComposer]

Impressive. Somehow Ligeti is all around here.

[@ZINSSTAG]

Oui, Gondwana est une grande œuvre, emblématique, de Tristan.

[@Protonixum]

Certes mais avez-vous écouté Désintégrations, une oeuvre de 1982/3 ou Bois flotté par exemple ?

[@ZINSSTAG]

@@Protonixum J'étais à la création de Désintégrations. à la cathédrale de St-Denis, qui ne m'a pas entièrement convaincu.

[@Protonixum]

@@ZINSSTAG Dommage car c'est une pièce très aboutie donc mûre ! Réécoutez-la, je vous le conseille ! Bien à vous !

[@MegaCirse]

TM est plus que le reflet d'une époque, c'est un astéroïde fantôme qui revient jeter son dévolu sur l'art sonore. Une onde prodigieuse chargée de paradoxes d'où s'échappent l'obscurantisme la féérie et l'irrationnel, facteurs hypnotiques défiant les âmes vulnérables en quête d'absolu

[@JamesWoolleyGuitar]

Trippy.

[@moonjunsu]

0:00 2:12
2:30 3:02
3:43 4:02 4:21 spi
4:50
5:23 6:30 7:30 7:40 8:00 8:39
14:15
15:24
16:01

[@matthewdockray9745]

I do sort of like it

[@joerodgers63]

That was a pretty song!🤣

[@zeitistzucker4304]

nette musik xD gondwana ist ein schöner kontinent xD

[@loupgarou4328]

Ca casse des barreaux de chaise ! ;-) LOL

[@WarerBrow]

Я глупый русский и не понимаю спектрализм.

[@hummel12ify]

Quel ennui