Imagining the Source: The Interplay of Realism and Abstraction in Electroacoustic Music

Abstract

This paper examines ways in which composers of electroacoustic music can create virtual and surreal sound worlds through: (1) the combination of recognisable sound events which may not normally coexist in physical Reality, and (2) distinctions between sounds of recognisable real-world origin and processed or synthetic sounds which appear disassociated from known physical contexts, thereby setting up a continuum between Reality and abstraction. These procedures are evaluated for their potential to evoke metaphorical meanings, by representing the simultaneous presence of the immediate physical world and more imaginatively defined “interior” one. The discussion includes analytical commentary on works by Wishart, Smalley, Dhomont, Truax, Cousins, Parmegiani and Lejeune.

Keywords:

• Source recognition
• realism
• abstraction
• surrogacy
• transformation
• acousmatic