''Gondwana'' (1980) is a defining

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

spectral music Spectral music uses the acoustic properties of sound – or sound spectra – as a basis for composition. Definition Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often informe ...

Staines, Joes (2010). ''The Rough Guide to Classical Music'', p.372. . "The ''locus classicus'' of early spectral music". for large

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

composed by Tristan Murail using simulated synthesis to create a harmonic

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

between an orchestrally synthesized

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

derived from a simulated bell sound ( inharmonic) and a chord derived from a

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

sound (

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...

).Fineberg, Joshua (2000)
''Spectral Music: History and Techniques''
p.69. (Overseas Publishers Association, published by license under the Harwood Academic Publishers imprint, ©2000)

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

: 48862556. . This process is meant to evoke the shifting of continents and thus the piece is named after the former supercontinent

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

. The piece uses

to make a smooth transformation on all musical parameters including spectral profile, envelope, and instrumental attacks. The bell sounds were created through a

Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitude ...

with a single modulator affecting five carriers to create five different harmonies, these being connected by interpolated chords. The components of the trombone's frequency spectrum was derived through a

Fourier transform A Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical transform that decomposes functions into frequency components, which are represented by the output of the transform as a function of frequency. Most commonly functions of time or space are transformed, ...

. The piece's long quiet or silent moments are shaped in "long, seamlessly evolving paragraphs" evoking the geological processes which created the continent. The first opening slowly transforms a chord before turning to trills. The opening chord has been compared to the work of

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...

. The piece, "incorporates a substantial passage directly modelled upon," Sibelius's ''Lemminkäinen in Tuonela'' from the '' Four Lemminkäinen Legends'' op.22 (1896).Grimley, Daniel M., ed. (2004). '' The Cambridge Companion to Sibelius'', p.200. .

Sources

1980 compositions Compositions by Tristan Murail Spectral music {{classical-composition-stub