Through score and audio analysis using a perceptually based taxonomy of orchestrational effects, we studied three compositions written by McGill University graduate students in collaboration with the ensemble’s performers. Our analytical approach considered perceptual issues of auditory fusion, segregation, integration, and stratification, focusing largely on the strategies developed by each composer to achieve their desired textural effects.

I will demonstrate how timbre and auditory scene analysis act as a central element in the emergence of musical form in a contemporary aleatoric composition with open instrumentation: all voices are heard (2015) by James Saunders.