Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima was composed in 1960 for 52 string instruments. Instead of treating those instruments primarily as carriers of melody and harmony, Penderecki pushed them toward clusters, glissandi, extreme registers and unconventional methods of producing sound. Players strike or bow unusual parts of their instruments, while blocks of sound expand and contract almost like physical objects.
The piece was originally titled 8’37” before receiving the name by which it became famous.
What interests me is how radically the identity of the string orchestra changes.
We know what a violin is supposed to sound like. Penderecki uses fifty-two familiar instruments to construct something that can initially seem electronic, industrial or impossible to locate.
No synthesizer is required.
That is useful to remember when thinking about experimental sound design. New timbre does not always require new technology. Sometimes it comes from asking an old instrument to perform an unfamiliar physical action.
The instrument has not changed.
Our definition of what counts as its sound has.
