Statistical Gestalts — perceptible features in serial music
pp. 103-113
in: Marc Leman (ed), Music, Gestalt, and computing, Berlin, Springer, 1997Abstract
Serial composing in the electronic studio opened new fields of musical perception. In this regard the discovery of statistics plays an important role. Parallels can be seen with the development in physics, where statistics helped to integrate the probabilistic behavior of quants into the causalistic concept of the physical world. Over and above that, Stockhausen's serial masterpiece Gesang der Jünglinge shows how serial composing of mass phenomena was orientated towards the creation of dynamic Gestalts on a statistical basis, being referential figures for the composer as well as for the listener.