Research · Preprint · October 2026

Composing Relations

Spectro-morphological composition in differentiated layers within a holophonic framework: a typology of morphological relations derived from compositional practice (2010–2026)

Joan Bagés i Rubí Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), Barcelona Artistic director, MORPHOSIS Ensemble · Co-director, Festival Contemporaneus, Reus PhD, Esthétique, sciences et technologies des arts — Université Paris 8 (CICM)
Article (PDF, 24 pp.) Open the presentation

Abstract

This article asks how morphological and spectral materials can be related in composition, and whether those relations can be systematised as the compositional material itself. It proceeds by research through practice. Six works composed between 2010 and 2026 are read as a sequence of experiments, each of which isolated one problem: LHC (2010), Punts de llum a les ales dels insectes (2012), Matar el sol (2014), Holofonia (2015), the electroacoustic opera IB: le cornu ancestrale (2022) and the interactive work Cicada Killer (2024–26).

The theoretical frame combines Schaeffer's typo-morphology, the micro-temporal thinking of granular composition (Gabor, Xenakis, Roads, Truax, Vaggione), Rebecca Saunders' notion of a finite sound palette, Smalley's spectromorphology and Kokoras' holophonic texture. These theories respectively describe the object, its inner time, a finite set of objects, the behaviour of objects in time, and the perceptual whole. None of them, however, provides a compositional account of the relation between morphologies as something written and operative at every time scale.

From the works, the article derives (1) six scales at which relations act — object, sequence, trame, phrase, section, work; (2) four families of relations — continuity, transformation, superposition, articulation — with twelve types; (3) six parameters with which a relation can be written; and (4) a six-step compositional method. It closes with two open lines: interactive systems that relate morphologies in real time, and the cognition of sound.

Keywords

spectromorphology · sound object · holophony · morphological composition · sound palette · granular synthesis · graphic notation · interactive music · mixed music · research through practice

Companion presentation

The article is the written counterpart of the lecture-concert Towards a Morphological Composition (形態から考える作曲), given at Nagoya College of Music, Studio C403, on 29 September 2026, within the FLEXUS PROJECT, 5th edition (Morphologies of Sound).

The presentation carries the audio examples, video, score excerpts and spectrograms discussed in the text. Each slide has its own address: references in the article of the form “(Presentation, slide 30)” link directly to presentation/#30.

Citation

Bagés i Rubí, Joan. 2026. “Composing Relations: Spectro-morphological composition in differentiated layers within a holophonic framework.” Preprint, version 2.0, October 2026. https://www.joanbages.com/research/composing-relations/