Structures Ia pour deux pianos by Boulez: Towards creative analysis using OpenMusic and Rubato

Abstract

Pierre Boulez introduced the concept of creative analysis (Boissière 2002) in the late 1980s suggesting that the aim of analysis should be the production of new pieces. Marcel Mesnage and André Riotte followed this path in their work on computer-aided analysis and composition (Mesnage and Riotte 1993). Our current study focuses on Ligeti's analysis of Structures pour deux pianos Ia (first book in 1951-1952) by Boulez, where the compositional process is described in detail and further set a model. In Structures, Boulez uses series consisting of 12 pitches, 12 durations, 12 attacks and 12 dynamics borrowed from Messiaen's Mode de valeurs et d'intensité (1949). Following Boulez's analytic concept, our task is to start from his compositional model and consider how it might be used to produce another piece. Our study uses the software OpenMusic, which was developed at the IRCAM and is built on a functional paradigm. This graphical environment can be exploited to imitate the model used in Structures, stressing a functional point of view. Parallel to this, a second approach will be implemented using Rubato, an universal music software environment that has been developed at the University of Zurich. The keystone of this application is a categorical point of view, theorized by Guerino Mazzola. Since category theory and functional languages are strongly linked, the two software applications are complementary. However, Rubato brings a different level of abstraction and therefore offers new possibilities that have yet to be developed, for instance creating metapieces that could give different Structures. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.