THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

include more complicated aperiodic wave-forms would, then, at best be a massively
complex undertaking and at worst, a Procrustean bed which would stretch our musical
intuitions in ways that may or may not have analytical rewards.
Robert Morris has developed another approach to defining transformations in
conceptual spaces which do not have well defined and measurable units; in fact, his list of
parameters, which we examined above, was in relation to a “contour-space” used for
precisely such musical situation. Morris identifies a number of musical situations where
one cannot or might choose not to perceive intervallic distance. His definition of c-space,
“implies that the only perceptual skill necessary for the adequate perception of musical
events in c-space is the ability to hear whether an element is higher than, lower than, or
equal to another,” and also describes this as the “most musically immediate pitch-space” 37
which will translate into a system with broad implications for analysis, since the types of
motions and transformations it describes do not require a substantial realteration of the
ways in which we commonly listen.
Dynamic levels provide a clear example of this concept. While there is a clear
difference between mezzo-piano and forte, in practice, this might not be perceived as
equivalent to the difference between pianissimo and mezzo-piano, although each of these
distances is commonly held as an increase of two dynamic levels–indeed, it is even
questionable whether two instances of a given dynamic level in different contexts or parts
of the piece are perceived as the same. The vector described by each of these moves (soft
to louder) is, however, clear, as are more complex dynamic shapes. The similarity
37Morris,
Composition with Pitch-Classes, 26.
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