Sonoric as a Compositional Technique the Attempt of Critical Analysis

Abstract

Relevance of the study. Sonoric is a widespread definition in Post-Soviet countries musicology. However, it is the only one in the system of contemporary compositional techniques that does not have English analogue. This fact conditioned to a number of questions related to this technique: what English terminology should be used as an analogue of sonoric or sonoristic? Why is there no such compositional technique as sonoric in European (with the exception of Poland) and American musicology? Is sonoric a compositional technique? The actualization of these issues makes it possible to solve both terminological problems and partially approach to the creation of a complete theory of contemporary composition techniques.
 The purpose of the study is to attempt to identify the structural core of sonoric as a compositional technique, the parameter (or parameters) of tone or noise material, for which organization it is responsible.
 Methods. This article is based on the method of systemic analysis of phenomena, general methods of theoretical research (analysis of a term, its semantic boundaries, correlation with other concepts), as well as specific musicological methods of a musical text analyzing.
 The results and conclusions. The authors of the theory of the sonoric compositional technique (Yu. Kholopov and A. Maklygin) suggest its use both in a general (a certain quality of concords) and in a narrow sense (a compositional technique that operates with timbre mass). In the process of a critical analysis of the concept of sonoric, it was noted that there are no precise criteria for distinguishing between the sound phenomena described by sonoric. Its methodological underpinning is based more on the elements of psychoacoustics and the theory of perception (without the direct use of the methods of these sciences) than on the theory of music. This thesis is proved by comparing the concepts of sonorically colored harmony and sonoric harmony. Postulating a reliance on synesthesia, the sonoric proposes to use a set of subjective associations to describe a sound phenomenon, relying on imaginative rather than technological characteristics. The analysis of sonoric texture types showed that point, line, spot, stripe, etc. are not original ways of tone and noise sounds organization, but are based on various combinations of pointillistic, cluster, polyphonic, micropolyphonic tools. Based on this conclusion, the idea that sonoric formations are not technically unique is formed. Such sonoric texture types are created by using a certain set of methods typical for various compositional techniques.