The Cluster Effect – Connotations of Performance and Musical Notation
The Cluster Effect – Connotations of Performance and Musical Notation

Summary/Abstract: The term cluster is an English word used in music to describe a complex of sounds played simultaneously. Micro- and macro-systemic approaches within varied fields of activity have caused the exploration of clustering techniques in relationship to variables specific to each area of research. This study undertakes to point out a few particular approaches of clusters in contemporary Romanian piano works, highlighting distinctive notational solutions which have generated various performances of the same sound effect: the cluster. The piano works of composer Violeta Dinescu offer this study analytical highlights, focusing, by means of concrete musical examples, on the trichotomic relationship which measures the connections between sign-object-sonorous output. The explanation of the phenomenon by analogy to Ch. S. Peirce’s theory of the ternary structure of the sign is meant to establish an analytical borderline on both micro- and macro-structural level. The compositional approach of the cluster on the two levels is also highlighted in the pieces Cluster-Melodia and Improvvisazione of the cycle Jocuri pianistice/Piano games by Eduárd Terényi, where the second piece draws the graphic contour of the previous one within hourly durations and a determined sound density. The research study proves that sound innovations gained by the piano in Modernism, Postmodernism, and contemporary music are correspondingly reflected in the field of graphical notation. The cluster, by means of the composers’ utterly personal graphical expression, which generates both varied interpretations and an individualized perception of the effect, opens up new perspectives in terms of the phenomenon’s analysis and hierarchy.

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