A Spectromorphological Analysis of Jean-François Laporte’s La plénitude du vide
Jean-François Laporte is an inventive composer for whom sound is a material to be discovered and explored. He is particularly interested in how the timbre of a sound evolves through space and time, and his research and experimentation with sonic matter spurred him to invent new instruments. La plénitude du vide (2005), commissioned by the saxophone quartet Quasar, is scored for saxophones, siren organ, sax-trunks, flying saxophones, totem-tu-yos, sub-totems, and “totem-pompiers”. The work is approximately 60 minutes long and presents sonic textures that evolve very slowly, eliciting a contemplative state in the listener. In this article, the author uses an analytical method called spectromorphology, borrowed from electroacoustic music. Developed by Denis Smalley, it serves to define textural shifts in the work and its occupation of the sonic spectrum. The analysis is based on the composer’s manuscript and graphic score, a recording of the work’s premiere, and a sonogram.