THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

qualities described by his system of oppositional categories, which bear a special
significance with the aesthetic of Varèse, whose piece is wrought with conflicting material.
The largest division into two parts is based on the predominance of “complex spectral
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noise bands” in the first part, and “simpler harmonic (or quasi-harmonic) spectra” in the
second. This equates to a distinction between diffuse material in the first half and compact
material in the second, further refined by characterizing the compact material according to
more subtle partial distributions into harmonic (or similar) configurations. Within each
section Cogan then discusses the nuances of more local progressions through other
oppositions–grave to acute registral contrasts, sounds which are clipped following those
that were sustained, and oblique glissandi answering level materials. Cogan then puts the
piece, and in particular the points he has made about the role of contrast and opposition in
Varèse’s aesthetic, into a wider historical context, something I will also strive to do in
both the conclusions to the individual analyses and the concluding chapter as a whole.
While Cogan uses some of the composer’s quotations to ground his analysis and
his analytical method, Agostino Di Scipio’s analysis of Jean-Claude Risset’s Contours
makes use of more detailed information from the composer and, in contrast to the Doati
and Wehinger analyses which began this discussion, it is notable for its balance between
information on compositional construction and that pertaining to received structure. Di
Scipio had access to Risset’s sketches and programming code and reproduces these in the
appendix, but he also explains several of these computer generated instruments in
layman’s terms. He posits two oppositions as fundamental to the course of the piece,
41Cogan,
“Varèse,” 27.
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