When we think about the soundscapes around us, we subconsciously split them into music and non-music, although the division is undoubtedly influenced by culture.A song comes on the radio?That’s music.We search for and find melodies, harmonies, rhythm.Tram rattling along its rails, dog barking, footsteps on the pavement?Non-music!The sounds we hear still have a specific pitch and timbre, they are loud or quiet, they often have a discernible rhythm, but since we’ve already written them off as non-music, we see no reason to think about them any further.

When we experience contemporary music, we would be well advised to forget these habits –and when it comes to Spectralism, we’re best off abandoning them altogether.Spectralist composers’ main fascination in music is precisely that which is generally considered unimportant, or even absent: sounds in and of themselves, and in particular the depth contained in the spectrum of acoustic waves.

On a theoretical level, Spectralism’s basis of building compositions from components of audio waves may give the impression that we are dealing with music which is highly hermetic and aimed squarely at musicologists and graduates of music conservatories. Meanwhile, the movement is captivating with its universal appeal and intricate skill of communicating with diverse audiences.Romanian Spectralism in particular is highly intuitive and rooted in regional music, providing deep metaphysical experiences which do not require expert understanding of music theory but simply curiosity and openness – attitudes available to all listeners as long as they wish to reach for them.

Associations with mysticism are amplified by the impossible task of describing Spectralism.Human language seems insufficient to express these emotions, so deeply unlike those we are familiar with.Reaching for metaphors, we could say that tales told by Spectralists resemble experiencing sound waves as they continually collapse and unfold again.The music creates the impression that our presence encourages it to keep forming and endlessly changing into extraordinary, surprising forms.Had the ocean from Stanisław Lem’s “Solaris” been made of sound, it would have been a perfect musical representation of Spectralism.

It is exactly this kind of musical trip we are taken on by this year’s Sacrum Profanum Festival, showcasing one of the greatest representatives of Romanian Spectralism: Iancu Dumitrescu.Although his works differ greatly from those by Rădulescu and Niculescu, and even more so French Spectralist composers, they are fundamental for the movement.Like no other, Dumitrescu presents an incredible palette of sounds, distinctive of Spectralism, resulting in a unique experience for the listeners.

During the concert “Romanian Spectralism” we will hear five premieres of Dumitrescu’s compositions (including four world premieres) alongside four works by Ana-Maria Avram, his partner in life and in music, who passed away on 1 August this year.The music is performed by the Hyperion Ensemble who have worked with both composers for many years.They are joined by Diana Miron, Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi and Zach Rowden, underthe baton of Ilan Volkov and Dumitrescu himself.A Discomfort Zone worth discovering – join us!

source
Bartosz Michalewski, Rumuński Spektralizm