Sound

By Thomas Erma Møller

Have you ever watched Star Wars or Lord of the Rings and noticed how the music is part of setting the mood and telling the story? Many film composers of the 20th and 21st centuries used the orchestra in a way which may be reminiscent of what composers did during the 19th and the start of the 20th century — the golden age of grand symphonies and solo concertos. And just like film composers, many classical composers were meticulous about their choice and combination of instruments in order to achieve their desired effect. They are, in other words, concerned with the sound of the music.

Sound is in many ways that which lends the music colour — often the term sound colour is used to mean the same thing. Each instrument has a distinct sound colour which allows us to tell the difference between the sound of a violin and a trumpet which are playing the same notes. Many factors form part of determining the sound colour, for example the spectrum of overtones — tones which sound softly whenever an instrument plays a tone — and the attack itself — qualities within the sound just when it is first emitted.

Composers’ focus on sound has varied somewhat throughout the history of music. During the 18th century, composers often had to simply accept the instruments which were available at the court where they were employed at the time. Other parameters, such as melody, chords and rhythm then became the main focus. Some of the music wasn’t even written for particular instruments. Nevertheless, a great part of the sound of the orchestra music of the 18th century was defined by a constant ingredient: the plucking sound of the keyboard instrument cembalo. A good example of the sound of orchestra music from this time is represented by Johann Sebastian Bach’s six different Brandenburg Concertos.

By the end of the 18th century, the orchestra’s composition had stabilised. Concurrently, composers such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven developed a more conscious and nuanced relationship with the music’s sound. In the course of the 19th century, composers started focusing more on orchestrating the music so they would achieve the balance, the variation and the effect they wanted to produce. Two of the 19th century leading figures in this area were Frenchman Hector Berlioz — who also wrote one of the first important theory works on “instrumentation” — and German Richard Wagner. In Wagner’s operas, such as Tristan und Isolde, or Der Ring des Nibelungen, sound is as important as mood-enhancing and narrative elements, just like in Lord of the Rings.

Many hold the opinion that the art of orchestration reached a high point in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. For some composers, the sound in itself became the most important element. In Claude Debussy’s La Mer, and in Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe, the orchestration is so nuanced, subtle and colourful that the listener’s attention is guided just as much towards the “colours” and “textures” in the music as towards the melodies or the chords. Also Igor Stravinsky used innovative orchestration and sound as an important device in evoking the grotesque, magical or fairy-tale like in his ballets.

If one is on the hunt for as powerful a sound as possible, one is likely to be drawn to music by Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss or Jean Sibelius. Film composers have picked up many techniques from these composers when it comes to evoking the heroic or the massive, pastoral idyll, emotional expressiveness or setting sound to an epic landscape. If you are wondering what might have been  John Williams’ biggest inspiration to write the music for Star Wars, have a listen to Gustav Holst’s The Planets. There you will find atmospheric segments, threatening marches and heroic music all in one go — much of it a product of the sound and orchestration. 

Up until our time, composers have continued to explore the sound potential of the orchestra, and some have combined pure acoustic sound with electronic effects. This started with experiments in the 1950’s and 1960’s, in works such as Arne Nordheim’s Epitaffio, and which has become common in the new orchestra music of today — such as that written by Kaija Saariaho or Rolf Wallin. As we head towards the future, it seems that the possibilities for a richness of sound and variation are almost infinite.