Spectralism

Spectralism is a compositional approach in Western art music that takes the acoustic structure of sound itself — the harmonic series and the spectra of individual tones — as the basis for harmony, timbre and form. Developed in 1970s France by the composers of *L'Itinéraire*, notably *Gérard Grisey* and *Tristan Murail*, and in parallel by Romania's spectral school around *Horațiu Rădulescu*, it uses analysis of real sounds, often computer-assisted, to generate musical material, favouring slow processes in which one sonority gradually transforms into another. Spectral thinking reshaped orchestral and ensemble writing across contemporary music.