View source for Spectral music

{{Short description|Musical composition practice where decisions are informed by the analysis of sound spectra}}
[[File:Spectrogram showing shared partials.png|thumb|A [[spectrogram]] of a violin playing a note and then a perfect fifth above it with the shared [[Harmonic series (music)#Partial|partials]] highlighted by the white dashes ([[harmonic spectra]])]]
[[File:Harmonic spectra theoretical x y.png|thumb|Harmonic spectrum (containing only harmonic [[overtone]]s)]]
[[File:Bell inharmonic spectrum.png|thumb|[[Inharmonic]] spectrum of a bell (dashed gray lines indicate harmonic overtones)]]
'''Spectral music''' uses the [[Acoustics|acoustic]] properties of sound – or [[Sound spectrum|sound spectra]] – as a basis for [[Musical composition|composition]].{{sfn|Anderson|2001}}

==Definition==
Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where [[musical composition|compositional]] decisions are often informed by [[Spectrogram|sonographic]] representations and [[Harmonic analysis|mathematical]] analysis of sound spectra, or by mathematically generated spectra. The spectral approach focuses on manipulating the spectral features, interconnecting them, and transforming them. In this formulation, computer-based sound analysis and representations of audio signals are treated as being analogous to a [[timbre|timbral]] representation of sound.

The (acoustic-composition) spectral approach originated in France in the early 1970s, and techniques were developed, and later refined, primarily at [[IRCAM]], Paris, with the [[Ensemble l'Itinéraire]], by composers such as [[Gérard Grisey]] and [[Tristan Murail]]. [[Hugues Dufourt]] is commonly credited for introducing the term ''musique spectrale'' (spectral music) in an article published in 1979.{{sfn|Anderson|2001}}{{sfn|O'Callaghan|2018|loc=57}} Murail has described spectral music as an [[aesthetic]] rather than a style, not so much a set of techniques as an attitude; as [[Joshua Fineberg]] puts it, a recognition that "music is ultimately sound evolving in time".<ref name="Fineberg 2000, 2">{{harvnb|Fineberg|2000a|loc=2}}</ref> [[Julian Anderson]] indicates that a number of major composers associated with spectralism consider the term inappropriate, misleading, and reductive.{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=7}} The Istanbul Spectral Music Conference of 2003 suggested a redefinition of the term "spectral music" to encompass any music that foregrounds timbre as an important element of structure or language.{{sfn|Reigle|2008|loc={{Page needed|date=January 2020}}}}

==Origins and history==
While spectralism as a historical movement is generally considered to have begun in France and Germany in the 1970s, precursors to the philosophy and techniques of spectralism, as prizing the nature and properties of sound above all else as an organizing principle for music, go back at least to the early twentieth century. Proto-spectral composers include [[Claude Debussy]], [[Edgard Varèse]], [[Giacinto Scelsi]], [[Olivier Messiaen]], [[György Ligeti]], [[Iannis Xenakis]], [[La Monte Young]], and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]].{{sfn|Rose|1996|loc=6}}{{sfn|Moscovich|1997|loc=21–22}}{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=8–14}}<!--NB: Moscovich names the first four, while Rose identifies the last four composers; only Messiaen is named by them both.--> Other composers who anticipated spectralist ideas in their theoretical writings include [[Harry Partch]], [[Henry Cowell]], and [[Paul Hindemith]].{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=8–13}} Also crucial to the origins of spectralism was the development of techniques of sound analysis and synthesis in [[computer music]] and acoustics during this period, especially focused around IRCAM in France and Darmstadt in Germany.{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=12, 20}}

Julian Anderson considers Danish composer [[Per Nørgård]]'s ''Voyage into the Golden Screen'' for chamber orchestra (1968) to be the first "properly instrumental piece of spectral composition".<ref name=jul>{{harvnb|Anderson|2000|loc=14}}</ref> Spectralism as a recognizable and unified movement, however, arose during the early 1970s, in part as a reaction against and alternative to the primarily pitch focused aesthetics of the [[serialism]] and post-serialism which was ascendant at the time.{{efn|1="... the question of [[timbre]], though it is rigorously tackled by [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schönberg]] (in his theory of the "melody of timbres") and above all by [[Anton Webern|Webern]], nevertheless has pre-[[serial music|serial]] origins, especially in [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]]—in this regard a "founding father" of the same rank as Schönberg. ... Later, it also provided the grounds for the break with [[Pierre Boulez|Boulez]]'s "structural" orientations and the contestation of the legacy of serialism which was carried out by the French group ''L'Itinéraire'' ([[Gérard Grisey]], [[Michaël Lévinas]], [[Tristan Murail]] ...)" {{harv|Badiou|2009|loc=82}}.}} Early spectral composers were centered in the cities of Paris and Cologne and associated with the composers of the [[Ensemble l'Itinéraire]] and the Feedback group, respectively. In Paris, [[Gérard Grisey]] and [[Tristan Murail]] were the most prominent pioneers of spectral techniques; Grisey's ''Espaces Acoustiques'' and Murail's ''[[Gondwana (Murail)|Gondwana]]'' were two influential works of this period. Their early work emphasized the use of the overtone series, techniques of [[Spectrum analyzer|spectral analysis]] and ring and frequency modulation, and slowly unfolding processes to create music which gave a new attention to timbre and texture.{{sfn|Rose|1996|loc=7, 16}}

The German Feedback group, including [[Johannes Fritsch]], [[Mesías Maiguashca]], [[Péter Eötvös]], [[Claude Vivier]], and [[Clarence Barlow]], was primarily associated with students and disciples of Karlheinz Stockhausen, and began to pioneer spectral techniques around the same time. Their work generally placed more emphasis on linear and melodic writing within a spectral context as compared to that of their French contemporaries, though with significant variations.{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=15–17}} Another important group of early spectral composers was centered in Romania, where a unique form of spectralism arose, in part inspired by Romanian folk music.{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=18}} This folk tradition, as collected by [[Béla Bartók]] (1904–1918), with its acoustic scales derived directly from resonance and natural wind instruments of the [[alphorn]] family, like the [[Bucium|''buciume'']] and ''tulnice'', as well as the ''[[cimpoi]]'' bagpipe, inspired several spectral composers, including [[:ro:Corneliu Cezar|Corneliu Cezar]], [[Anatol Vieru]], [[Aurel Stroe]], [[Ștefan Niculescu]], [[Horațiu Rădulescu]], [[Iancu Dumitrescu]], [[Costin Miereanu]], and [[Octavian Nemescu]].{{sfn|Halbreich|1992|loc=13–14}}

Towards the end of the twentieth century, techniques associated with spectralist composers began to be adopted more widely and the original pioneers of spectralism began to integrate their techniques more fully with those of other traditions. For example, in their works from the later 1980s and into the 1990s, both Grisey and Murail began to shift their emphasis away from the more gradual and regular process which characterized their early work to include more sudden dramatic contrasts as more well linear and contrapuntal writing.{{sfn|Anderson|2000|loc=21}} Likewise, spectral techniques were adopted by composers from a wider variety of traditions and countries, including the UK (with composers like [[Julian Anderson]] and [[Jonathan Harvey (composer)|Jonathan Harvey]]), Finland (composers like [[Magnus Lindberg]] and [[Kaija Saariaho]]), and the United States.{{sfn|Anderson|2000}} A further development is the emergence of "hyper-spectralism"{{clarify|date=December 2015}} in the works of Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram.{{sfn|Halbreich|1992|loc=50}}{{sfn|Teodorescu-Ciocanea|2004|loc=144}}

==Compositional technique==
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quote = The spectral adventure has allowed the renovation, without imitation of the foundations of occidental music, because it is not a closed technique but an attitude.<br />—[[Gérard Grisey]]{{sfn|Grisey and Fineberg|2000|loc=3}}}}

{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quote =The "panoply of methods and techniques" used are secondary, being only "the means of achieving a sonic end".<ref name="Fineberg 2000, 2"/>}}

Spectral music focuses on the phenomenon and [[acoustics]] of sound as well as its potential semantic qualities. Pitch material and intervallic content are often derived from the [[Harmonic series (music)|harmonic series]], including the use of [[microtones]]. Spectrographic analysis of acoustic sources is used as inspiration for [[orchestration]]. The reconstruction of electroacoustic source materials by using acoustic instruments is another common approach to spectral orchestration. In "additive instrumental synthesis", instruments are assigned to play discrete components of a sound, such as an individual [[Harmonic series (music)|partial]]. [[Amplitude modulation]], [[frequency modulation]], [[difference tone]]s, harmonic fusion, residue pitch, [[Shepard tone|Shepard-tone]] phenomena, and other psychoacoustic concepts are applied to music materials.{{sfn|Wannamaker|2008|loc=91–92}}

Formal concepts important in spectral music include [[process (music)|process]] and the stretching of time.{{explain|date=July 2021}} Though development is "significantly different from those of [[minimalist music]]" in that all musical parameters may be affected, it similarly draws attention to very subtle aspects of the music. These processes most often achieve a smooth transition through [[interpolation]].{{sfn|Fineberg|2000a|loc=107}} Any or all of these techniques may be operating in a particular work, though this list is not exhaustive.

The [[Romania]]n spectral tradition focuses more on the study of how sound itself behaves in a "live" environment. Sound work is not restricted to harmonic spectra but includes transitory aspects of [[timbre]] and non-harmonic [[Aspect of music|musical components]] (e.g., [[rhythm]], [[tempo]], [[dynamics (music)|dynamics]]). Furthermore, sound is treated [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenologically]] as a dynamic presence to be encountered in listening (rather than as an object of scientific study). This approach results in a transformational musical language in which continuous change of the material displaces the central role accorded to structure in spectralism of the "French school".{{sfn|Reigle|2008|loc=16}}

==Composers==

=== France ===
Spectral music was initially associated with composers of the French [[Ensemble l'Itinéraire]], including [[Hugues Dufourt]], [[Gérard Grisey]], [[Tristan Murail]], and [[Michaël Lévinas]]. For these composers, musical sound (or natural sound) is taken as a model for composition, leading to an interest in the exploration of the interior of sounds.{{sfn|Murail|2005|loc=182–183}} [[Giacinto Scelsi]] was an important influence on Grisey, Murail, and Lévinas; his approach with exploring a single sound in his works and a "smooth" conception of time (such as in his ''Quattro pezzi su una nota sola'') greatly influenced these composers to include new instrumental techniques and variations of timbre in their works.{{sfn|Murail|2005|loc=183–184}}

=== Germany and Romania ===
Other spectral music composers include those from the German Feedback group, principally [[Johannes Fritsch]], [[Mesías Maiguashca]], [[Péter Eötvös]], [[Claude Vivier]], and [[Clarence Barlow]]. Features of spectralism are also seen independently in the contemporary work of Romanian composers [[:ro:Corneliu Cezar|Corneliu Cezar]], [[Ștefan Niculescu]], [[Horațiu Rădulescu]], and [[Iancu Dumitrescu]].{{sfn|Anderson|2001}}

=== United States ===
Independent of spectral music developments in Europe, American composer [[James Tenney]]'s output included more than fifty significant works that feature spectralist traits.{{sfn|Wannamaker|2008|loc=91}} His influences came from encounters with a scientific culture which pervaded during the postwar era, and a "quasi-empiricist musical aesthetic" from [[John Cage]].<ref name=":2">{{harvnb|Wannamaker|2008|loc=123}}</ref> His works, although having similarities with European spectral music, are distinctive in some ways, for example in his interest in "post-Cageian indeterminacy".

=== Post-spectralism ===
The spectralist movement inspired more recent composers such as [[Julian Anderson]], [[Ana-Maria Avram]], [[Joshua Fineberg]], [[Georg Friedrich Haas]], [[Jonathan Harvey (composer)|Jonathan Harvey]], [[Fabien Lévy]], [[Magnus Lindberg]], and [[Kaija Saariaho]].

Some of the "post-spectralist" French composers include {{ill|Éric Tanguy|fr}}, [[Philippe Hurel]], [[François Paris]], [[Philippe Leroux]], and [[Thierry Blondeau]].{{sfn|Pugin|2001|loc=38–44}}

In the United States, composers such as [[Alvin Lucier]], [[La Monte Young]], [[Terry Riley]], [[Maryanne Amacher]], [[Phill Niblock]], and [[Glenn Branca]] relate some of the influences of spectral music into their own work. Tenney's work has also influenced a number of composers such as [[Larry Polansky]] and [[John Luther Adams]].{{sfn|Wannamaker|2008|loc=123–124}}

In the US, jazz saxophonist and composer [[Steve Lehman (composer)|Steve Lehman]], and in Europe, French composer {{ill|Frédéric Maurin|fr||de}}, have both introduced spectral techniques into the domain of jazz.{{sfn|Anon.|2009}}{{sfn|Court and Florin|2015|loc={{Page needed|date=January 2020|reason=Since this is a collection of papers delivered at a conference in 2013, the author and title of the paper itself should be cited instead of the editors of the anthology}}}}

==Notable works==
Characteristic spectral pieces include:
* [[Gérard Grisey]]: ''Les espaces acoustiques'' (''Périodes'' and ''[[Partiels]]'') (1975)
* [[Hugues Dufourt]]: ''[[Saturne (Dufourt)|Saturne]]'' (1978–79)
* [[Tristan Murail]]: ''[[Gondwana (Murail)|Gondwana]]'' (1980)
* [[Claude Vivier]]: ''[[Lonely Child (Vivier)|Lonely Child]]'' (1980)

Other pieces that utilise spectral ideas or techniques include:<ref name=jul/><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{harvnb|Murail|2005|loc=181–185}}</ref>
*[[Per Nørgård]]: ''Voyage into the Golden Screen'' (1968)
*[[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]: ''[[Stimmung]]'' (1968)
*[[James Tenney]]: ''Clang'' and ''Quintext'' (1972)
*[[Michaël Lévinas]]: ''Appels'' (1974)
*[[Tristan Murail]]: ''Mémoire/Erosion'' (1976)
*[[Gérard Grisey]]: ''Vortex Temporum'' (1994–1996)

Post-spectral pieces include:{{sfn|McClellan|n.d.}}{{sfn|Fineberg|2000a|loc=128}}
* [[John Chowning]]: ''Stria'' (1977)
* [[Jonathan Harvey (composer)|Jonathan Harvey]]: ''[[Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco]]'' (1980)
* [[Georg Friedrich Haas]]: ''[[in vain (Haas)|in vain]]'' (2000)

''Stria'' and ''Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco'' are examples of [[electronic music]] that embrace spectral techniques.{{sfn|Joos|2002}}{{sfn|Sykes|2003}}

==See also==
*[[IRCAM]] (Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music, Paris)

== Notes and references ==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===References===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anderson|2000}}|reference=Anderson, Julian. 2000. "A Provisional History of Spectral Music". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 2 ("Spectral Music: History and Techniques"): 7–22.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anderson|2001}}|reference=Anderson, Julian. 2001. "Spectral Music". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anon.|2009}}|reference=Anon. 2009. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121222043924/http://news.columbia.edu/research/1612 Doctoral Student Continues Legacy of Professor's Spectral Music]". ''Research: Breakthroughs in Knowledge and Ideas at Columbia'' website (Accessed 7 May 2012).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Badiou|2009}}|reference=[[Alain Badiou|Badiou, Alain]]. 2009. ''Logics of Worlds: The Sequel to Being and Event'', translated by [[Alberto Toscano]]. London, New York: Continuum. {{ISBN|978-0-8264-9470-2}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Court and Florin|2015}}|reference=Court, Jean-Michel, and Ludovic Florin (eds.). 2015. ''[https://www.academia.edu/16505475 Rencontres du jazz et de la musique contemporaine]''. Toulouse: Presses Universitaires du Midi. {{ISBN|978-2-8107-0374-6}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Fineberg|2000a}}|reference=Fineberg, Joshua (ed.). 2000a. [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/48862556&referer=brief_results ''Spectral Music: History and Techniques'']. Amsterdam: Overseas Publishers Association, published by license under the Harwood Academic Publishers imprint, ©2000. {{ISBN|90-5755-131-4}}. Constituting ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 2.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Grisey and Fineberg|2000}}|reference=[[Gérard Grisey|Grisey, Gérard]] and [[Joshua Fineberg|Fineberg, Joshua]]. 2000. "Did you say Spectral?". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 3:1–3. {{doi|10.1080/07494460000640311}}}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Halbreich|1992}}|reference=[[Harry Halbreich|Halbreich, Harry]]. 1992. ''Roumanie, terre du neuvième ciel''. Bucharest: Axis Mundi.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Joos|2002}}|reference=Joos, Maxime. 2002. "'La cloche et la vague': Introduction à la musique spectrale—Tristan Murail et Jonathan Harvey". ''Musica falsa: Musique, art, philosophie'', no. 16 (Fall): 30–31.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|McClellan|n.d.}}|reference=McClellan, James. n.d. "[http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~mcclella/2025/labs-f04/Chowning.pdf James McClellan – Professor]".}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Moscovich|1997}}|reference=Moscovich, Viviana. 1997. "French Spectral Music: An Introduction". ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' new series, no. 200 (April): 21–27.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Murail|2005}}|reference=[[Tristan Murail|Murail, Tristan]] (2005-04-01). "Scelsi and L'Itinéraire: The Exploration of Sound". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 24, nos. 2–3: 181–185. {{doi|10.1080/07494460500154830}} {{ISSN|0749-4467}}}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|O'Callaghan|2018}}|reference=O'Callaghan, James. 2018. "Spectral Music and the Appeal to Nature". ''Twentieth-Century Music'' 15, no. 1: 57–73.}} {{doi|10.1017/S1478572218000063}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Pugin|2001}}|reference=Pugin, Tristan. 2001. "Through the Spectrum: The New Intimacy in French Music (II)". ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' (217): 38–47.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Reigle|2008}}|reference=Reigle, Robert. 2008. "Spectral Musics Old and New". In ''Spectral World Musics: Proceedings of the Istanbul Spectral Music Conference'', edited by Robert Reigle and Paul Whitehead{{Page needed|date=January 2020|reason=Inclusive page numbers of the article are needed.}}. Istanbul: Pan Yayincilik. {{ISBN|9944-396-27-3}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Rose|1996}}|reference=Rose, François. 1996. "Introduction to the Pitch Organization of French Spectral Music". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 34, no. 2 (Summer): 6–39.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sykes|2003}}|reference=Sykes, Claire. 2003. "Spiritual Spectralism: The Music of Jonathan Harvey". ''Musicworks: Explorations in Sound'', no. 87 (Fall): 30–37.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Teodorescu-Ciocanea|2004}}|reference=Teodorescu-Ciocanea, Livia. 2004. ''Timbrul Muzical, Strategii de compoziţie''. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. {{ISBN|973-42-0344-4}}.}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Wannamaker|2008}}|reference=Wannamaker, Robert A. 2008. "The Spectral Music of James Tenney". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 27, no. 1:91–130.}} {{doi|10.1080/07494460701671558}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* Arrell, Chris. 2002. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Pushing_the_Envelope.html?id=lzJ3GwAACAAJ "Pushing the Envelope: Art and Science in the Music of Gérard Grisey"]. Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University.
* Arrell, Chris. 2008. "The Music of Sound: An Analysis of Gérard Grisey's ''Partiels''". In ''Spectral World Musics: Proceedings of the Istanbul Spectral Music Conference'', edited by Robert Reigle and Paul Whitehead. Istanbul: Pan Yayincilik. {{ISBN|9944-396-27-3}}.
* Baillet, Jérôme. 2001. ''Gérard Grisey: Fondements d'une écriture''. L'Harmattan.
* Beldean, Laurentiu. "Philosophy, Liter[a]ture, and Tonal Music as Ingredients of Spectral Music". Transilvania University of Brasov. Series VII.{{Full citation needed|date=September 2019}}
* Brow, Jefferey Arlo (August 23, 2018). [https://van-magazine.com/mag/spectral-music/ "The Death and Life of Spectral Music"]. ''[[VAN Magazine]]''.
* [[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni, Ferruccio]]. 1907. "Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst". In ''Der mächtige Zauberer & Die Brautwahl: zwei Theaterdichtungen fur Musik; Entwurf einer neuen Aesthetik der Tonkunst'', by Ferruccio Busoni, Arthur, comte de Gobineau, and [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]. Triest: C. Schmidt. English edition as ''Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music'', translated from the German by [[Theodore Baker|Th. Baker]]. New York: G. Schirmer, 1911.
* [[Danielle Cohen-Levinas|Cohen-Levinas, Danielle]]. 1996. ''[http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/54258091&referer=brief_results Création musicale et analyse aujourd'hui]''. Paris: Eska, 1996. {{ISBN|2-86911-510-5}}
* Cornicello, Anthony. 2000. "[http://www.anthonycornicello.com/DissIndex.htm Timbral Organization in Tristan Murail's ''Désintégrations'']". Ph.D. Dissertation, Brandeis University.
* [[Henry Cowell|Cowell, Henry]]. 1930. ''New Musical Resources''. New York & London: A. A. Knopf. Reprinted, with notes and an accompanying essay by David Nicholls. Cambridge [England] & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-521-49651-9}} (cloth) {{ISBN|0-521-49974-7}} (pbk.)
* Cross, Jonathan. 2018. "Introduction: Spectral Thinking". ''Twentieth-Century Music'' 15 (1): 3–9.
* Donaldson, James. 2021. "[https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.21.27.2/mto.21.27.2.donaldson.html Melody on the Threshold in Spectral Music]". ''[[Music Theory Online]]'' 27, no.2.
* [[Hugues Dufourt|Dufourt, Hugues]]. 1979. ''Musique spectrale''. Paris: Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion, Radio France/Société internationale de musique contemporaine (SIMC), III, 30–32.
* Dufourt, Hugues. 1981. "Musique spectrale: pour une pratique des formes de l'énergie". ''Bicéphale'', no.3:85–89.
* Dufourt, Hugues. 1991. ''Musique, pouvoir, écriture''. Collection Musique/Passé/Présent. Paris: Christian Bourgois. {{ISBN|2-267-01023-2}}
* Exarchos, Dimitris. 2018. "The Skin of Spectral Time in Grisey's ''Le Noir de l'Étoile''." ''Twentieth-Century Music'' 15 (1): 31–55.
* [[Joshua Fineberg|Fineberg, Joshua]] (ed.). 2000b. ''Spectral Music: Aesthetics and Music''. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Overseas Publishers Association. {{ISBN|90-5755-132-2}}. Constituting ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 3.
* Fineberg, Joshua. 2006. ''Classical Music, Why Bother?: Hearing the World of Contemporary Culture Through a Composer's Ears''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-97174-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-97174-4}}. [Contains much of the same text as Fineberg 2000a and 2000b.
* [[Gérard Grisey|Grisey, Gérard]]. 1987. "''Tempus ex machina'': A Composer's Reflections on Musical Time". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 2, no. 1: 238–275.
* [[Jonathan Harvey (composer)|Harvey, Jonathan]]. 2001. "Spectralism". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 3:11–14.
* Hasegawa, Robert. 2009. "Gérard Grisey and the 'Nature' of Harmony" ''[[Music Analysis (journal)|Music Analysis]]'' 28 (2–3): 349–371.
* [[Hermann von Helmholtz|Helmholtz, Hermann von]]. 1863. ''Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik''. Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn. Second edition 1865; third edition 1870; fourth revised edition 1877; fifth edition 1896; sixth edition, edited by Richard Wachsmuth, Braunschweig: A. Vieweg & Sohn, 1913 (Facsimile reprints, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1968; Frankfurt am Main: Minerva, 1981; Hildesheim & New York: G. Olms, 1983, 2000 {{ISBN|3-487-01974-4}}; Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 2003 {{ISBN|3-487-11751-7}}; Saarbrücken: Müller, 2007 {{ISBN|3-8364-0606-3}}).
** Translated from the third edition by [[Alexander John Ellis]], as ''[[Sensations of Tone|On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music]]''. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1875; second English edition, revised and corrected, conformable to the 4th German edition of 1877 (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1885); third English edition 1895; fourth English edition 1912; reprint of the 1912 edition, with a new introduction by [[Henry Margenau]], New York: Dover Books, 1954 {{ISBN|0-486-60753-4}}; reprint of the 1912 edition, Whitefish, Montana: Kellinger Publishing, 2005, {{ISBN|1-4191-7893-8}}
* [[Éric Humbertclaude|Humbertclaude, Éric]] 1999. ''La Transcription dans Boulez et Murail: de l'oreille à l'éveil''. Paris: Harmattan. {{ISBN|2-7384-8042-X}}.
* [[Fabien Lévy|Lévy, Fabien]]. 2004. "Le tournant des années 70: de la perception induite par la structure aux processus déduits de la perception". In ''Le temps de l'écoute: Gérard Grisey ou la beauté des ombres sonores'', edited by [[Danielle Cohen-Levinas]], 103–133. Paris: L'Harmattan/L'itinéraire. [Contains many typographical errors; [https://web.archive.org/web/20120907115503/http://www.fabienlevy.net/Documents/pdf/tournant70.pdf corrected version]
* Mabury, Brett. 2006. "[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/129 An Investigation into the Spectral Music Idiom and Its Association with Visual Imagery, Particularly That of Film and Video]". MA thesis. Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
* Surianu, Horia. 2001. "Romanian Spectral Music or Another Expression Freed", translated by [[Joshua Fineberg]]. ''Contemporary Music Review'' 19, no. 3: 23–32.
* Wannamaker, Robert. 2021. [https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c043673 ''The Music of James Tenney, Volume 1: Contexts and Paradigms'']. University of Illinois Press.
* Wilson, Andy [editor]. 2013. "Cosmic Orgasm: The Music of Iancu Dumitrescu". Unkant Publishing. {{ISBN|095-68-1765-3}}.
{{div col end}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|id=D5YBgfxWDYo|title=Great Composers: Horațiu Rădulescu}}
* [[Kyle Gann|Gann, Kyle]]. April 27, 2004. [https://www.villagevoice.com/call-it-spectral/ "Call It Spectral".] ''[[The Village Voice]]''.
* Jeffrey Arlo Brown. August 23, 2018. [https://van-magazine.com/mag/spectral-music/ The Death and Life of Spectral Music] ''[[VAN Magazine]]''.
* Hamilton, Andy. November 2003. [https://www.dur.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/?mode=pdetail&id=512&pdetail=47590 "The Primer: Spectral Composition".] ''[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]''.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150406183429/http://www.york.ac.uk/music/undergraduate/modules/2013-14/spectral-music/ Spectral Music] (University of York course description, 2013; bibliography under tab for Reading and Listening)

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