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constraints of a solo performance, especially that involving a monophonic instrument.

The complexity of spatial forms of music reaches its peak in mixed sound-spaces with
many performers and multi-loudspeaker sound projection systems. Here, instead of
attempting to classify all possible patterns, 1 will describe selected aspects of one
composition, Pierre Boulez's Répons (1981-1988) for 6 instrumental soloists
(surrounding the audience), instrumental ensemble of 24 musicians (in the midst of the
audience) and electroacoustic equipment ta process and spatialize the sound (including
two sets of 6 loudspeakers on the outskirts of the performance area; cf. Section 5.4).

5.2.
Categories of mobility: Performers and audiences

ln the majority of designs introduced in spatialized music the performers and

the audiences are static (cf. Section 5.4). The dispersion of musicians in the space of
the concert hall provides many opportunities for varied spatial distributions and
interactions of sounds. However, in the composition in which the first detailed plan
of performer placement was used, Bart6k's Music for Strings. Percussion and Celeste
(1936-1937), the musicians are not dispersed throughout the auditorium. Here, all
the performers are located on the stage in a symmetrical design with percussions and
keyboards framed by the two groups of the strings (cf. Ex. V_1).14 Since the audience
faces the musicians, as in a traditional concert hall arrangement, the presence of
spatialization in Bart6k's work may remain unnoticed.
The fust movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste explores the

141n reference to this work, Ernô Lendvai writes about the "quadrophonic stage If

of music; he also describes Bart6k's inner hearing as "stereo hearing" (Lendvai 1983).
Lendvai' s article contains speculations about the symbolism of the right and the left side
(left being associated with emotions, right--with the spiritual) and focusses on Bart6k's
structuring of pitch. Issues of spatialization, such as the patterns of antiphonal
alternation, and the identity and difference of spatially separated materials are only briefly
mentioned.
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central symmetry of the placement of the strings. At the beginn!ng, two violas in
unison (one from each distant group of the strings) present the theme of the fugue.
The musical and timbral identity of the material resounding from two points in space
causes the sound image to extend over the whole area in-between the perforrning
instruments. tl The image is spatially balanced around the centre of the stage, because
of the symmetrical position of the violas. Due to the transparency of sound,
successive entries of new voices blend in with this central image: two violins from the
right, two celli from both groups, violin II from the left, two double basses from the
centre, violin 1 from the left (mm. 1-27). Bart6k organizes the entries of fugal voices
in an alternating pattern of directions: Centre--Right--Centre--Left--Centre (inside and
back)--Left.
The second movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste juxtaposes
the two groups of strings in a variety of antiphonal patterns. The movement begins
with a dialogue (mm. 1-18) which soon develops into a series of canons between the
whole groups (m. 40-60) or individual instruments (mm. 70-86, mm. 286-293).
Bart6k often introduces patterns of several antiphonal exchanges leading to a section in
rhythmic unison (e.g. mm. 56-66).11) These patterns appear frequently in the work's
finale. In mm. 184-203, the two groups of the strings alternatively play music with
identical rhythm, articulation, and dynamics, but with melodic motion in different
directions (Group II--up, Group I--down); these differences gradually disappear on the
way to a full identity of musical mate~al (cf. Ex. V-2, mm. 184-193).17 In a

UCf. Brant's notion of spill discussed in Chapter III, and issues of signal
coherence mentioned in Chapter IV (Dlauert 1983).

l&rhis design of the gradual reconciliation of initial oppositions also underlies the
conclusion of the second movement (mm. 490-520). This section begins with a dialogue
of the two groups, matching spatial symmetry with a symmetry of pitch motion: an
ascending passage in Group 1 (left) is answered by its inversion in Group II (right). At
the end, the groups fully share their musical material.

171n another segment (mm. 114-120), aIl the strings are involved in an exchange
with the central1y placed piano and harp (the pattern of the dialogue is: Outside-versus-
Centre).
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beautiful moment of texturaI transformation (mm. 224-232), a cluster of descending

melodic lines entering from alternating directions converges on a single chord
performed by the two groups together with the same articulation (trills, cf. Ex. V-3).
The tempo changes to Adagio and an expressive violin solo emerges from the
background of this shimmering chord. Music for Strings. Percussion and Celeste
transcends the principle of antiphonal dialogue encountered in many compositions for
two orchestras by connecting symmetries in pitch space with symmetries in
performance space. Here, Bart6k reveals the full potential of spatial designs in music
composed for static performers placed in traditional concert settings.
Static musicians do not necessarily create statie sound images: it is possible to
articulate various patterns of sound movement by dispersing musicians in the
performance space. Spatial sound movement may be discrete, that is, it may proceed
stepwise--if a musical phrase is presented successively in one ensemble of performers
after another. This technique has been known since the Venetian school of
polychorality in the late renaissance (or even earlier, cf. Carver 1988). Trajectories
of discrete sound movement depend on the placement of performers. The apparent
motion of sound from the front to the back of the hall (and vice versa) is a basic
feature of Henry Brant' s Millennium II (1954), where it results from successive entries
of the trumpets and trombones placed along the walls of the hall (cf. Chapter VI). In
John Tavener's Ultimos Ritos (1972), the vertical direction of motion from high to
low is suggested by the alternation between groups of instruments plaeed in a high
gallery and on the ground level of the church (cf. section 5.6).
Sound movement in space may also assume a continuous form. An interesting
method of creating continuity of motion introduced in instrumental music of the post-
war avant-garde, involves ensemble dispersion, dynamic shading and temporal
overlapping of sounds. Stationary instrumental groups are placed around the audience
and successively play sounds of the same piteh and timbre with similar dynamic
envelopes (crescendo--decrescendo). The sound seems to rotate in space, gradually
shilling from one instrumental ensemble to another. This effect, fIfst used in
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen for Drei Orchester (1955-57; cf. Chapter III,