Table 2.

Musicological characterization of atonal pieces used in the psychophysiological study. Aside from their being associated with a specific emotional state (i.e., joy, agitation and pathos, respectively) they shared some properties (described below), such as their ability to induce anxiety and psychological tension in listeners, along with their atonality.

Hindemith, Paul First Movement of I Kammermusik (Joyful)
Kammermusik (1922) reflects Hindemith’s conception, typical of the 1920s, about the idea of composing functional music (Gebrauchsmusik) based on the invention of simple figurations and on repetitive-type motor rhythmics. There is the reference to Bach’s counterpointistic writing, although mediated by the use of modern materials. The orchestral ensemble envisaged – flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet in Bb, percussion, piano, accordion, and string quintet – in fact refers to jazz- and cabaret-like sonorities typical of that period. In the score, Hindemith characterizes the 1st movement with the following wording: Sehrschnell und wild, translatable as “very fast and wild” to refer to the agitated, repetitive and rhythmic nature of the musical writing used. The melodic-harmonic material is based on the stratification of diatonic-modal, defective scalar formulas, on bichords of perfect fifths and, in certain points, on the overlapping of different triads; overall, these elements give the reiterated, incisive and well-marked writing of rhythmic-melodic structures a generally euphonic sonority. The polarized use of heights – fixed, depending on the sections, on certain areas of the frequency space – generates an apparent and ambiguous stability as it is constantly thwarted and destabilized by the play of displacements, contrasts, and rhythmic deformations. The opening passage (corresponding to the selected 1-min fragment) is punctuated by rapid and vigorously swirling repeated quatrains of sixteenths by two violins and viola, combined with the sextuplets of piano, all in fortissimo; simultaneously, flute, clarinet, accordion, and cello (on a high-pitched sound range) perform in unison the short main motive, always repeated in fortissimo, and rhythmically interspersed at certain points by the trumpet. A second part of the composition is timbrally characterized by the punchy sound of the xylophone. As a whole, this first movement is articulated by means of short rhythmic-melodic formulas that are precise and clear, and which alternate without continuity between them, with resumptions subjected to deformations, generating asymmetry effects. In certain moments, the writing takes on a vehemently percussive character, thus further emphasizing the incisive and energetic nature of the piece. All this gives to the listener the feeling of cinematic music in which the motor rhythmicity predominates over all other musical elements.
Donatoni, Franco Duo Pour Bruno (Agitating) Duo for Bruno is an orchestral piece composed by Franco Donatoni approximately in 1974–1975. It is a tribute to Bruno Maderna, who had passed away on November 13, 1973. The starting material, in fact, is derived from a popular Venetian song “The blonde in gondoletta,” widely used by Maderna in his 1972 “Venetian Journal” for tenor, magnetic tape and orchestra. This diatonic material, however, is distributed by Donatoni between instruments without ever being quoted verbatim, except in the early parts of the work with the very dilated values of the oboes. The orchestra used by Donatoni does not include bassoons and tuba, and lower strings are reduced, thus resulting in a timbric lightening of the overall sonority. The title alludes to the duo’s instrumentation and to the formal structure of the work. There are two percussionists arranged symmetrically, two solo violins, celesta and vibraphone, two pianos, two harps and woodwinds and brass are treated in copies; each instrumental family is also divided into low- and high-pitched sounds. From a formal point of view, Duo for Bruno is divisible into 10 “panels,” often seemingly unrelated to each other and processed by various manipulations of varying complexity regarding their underlying structures. Each “panel” is conceived to be a diptych divided into 13 bars, a central bar acting as a hinge and 13 other bars, and it is characterized by its instrumental combinations, the plot of its internal representations, and its rhythmic articulations. Overall, in the succession of the 10 “panels,” a dynamic growing is felt, culminating in the finale, with a persistent, repetitive and “ostinato” TUTTI, punctuated by the powerful shots of the two bass drums alternately. At the same time, in each panel, the central bar, acting as a hinge between the two main parts, takes on a more and more disturbing valence. In it, in fact, the two solo violins and tubular bells intervene constantly. Starting from the second “panel,” the two violins overflow in bars around the central bar. This process, creating agitation and internal instability, increases more and more on the succession of “panels” to completely dissolve the hinge function at the end of the piece. The 1-min fragment played in the psychophysiological experiment coincides with part of the ninth “panel” characterized by its dissonant and violent colors, for the powerful tones of the four trombones, and for the immediate dynamic contrasts and sudden overturning. In the hinge bar, we hear seven notes of the bells and the isolated violin sounds. The descending chromatic melodic contours evoke the idea of pain or lamentation in the listener, and shifts toward the lower registers for mimesis suggest feelings of distress or suffering and transience. A state of intense and irrepressible excitement predominates, in which the hinge bar is followed by chord blocks in trill and tremolo by strings, alternated with polyphony of winds. These features can therefore generate a feeling of intense agitation and distress, with furious moments alternated with plaintive states. It must be remembered, however, that for Donatoni, Duo for Bruno represented a work mainly marked by a strong creative vitality and energy.
Pärt, Arvo Cantus in Memoriam of Benjamin Britten (Touching)
The composition of the Cantus dates back to 1977 and it is a type of funeral elegy that Arvo Pärt dedicated to the memory of Benjamin Britten, who passed away a year before, as suggested by the title itself. In this composition, the presence of that style that Part himself would later called “tintinnabuli” is recognizable, with reference to the resonances of the bells. It is a compositional style characterized by an extreme simplification of the harmony and the musical material used. As explained by the composer himself, if you strike a bell several times, a peculiar harmony will follow, oscillating around a low-pitched frequency. The “tintinnabuli” technique precisely reproduces these fluctuations, translating them into sequences and superimpositions of melodic lines, creating layers of harmonics. For example, the three notes of a triad can be interpreted, according to Pärt, as the sounds of a bell. Another feature is the use of the presence of two voices, one of which serves as an accompaniment by repeating the notes of the tonal chord, whereas the other carries the main melody. This is what happens in the Cantus, where the strings (except for violas) are divided mainly into two groups, except for violas. The fragment used in the study was taken by the initial piece of the work (after the first 15 s). The Cantus’s incipit is characterized by isolated bell sounds that remain constant after the entry of strings, regularly performing groups of three shots in a gradual crescendo toward fff to progressively decrease until the last stroke in pp, which ends the piece. Stringed instruments enter one after the other, from the first violins up to double bass, each on a same melody based on a minor natural descendent scale but in augmentation of a 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 ratio; this means that, for example, the double basses play the main melody augmented sixteen times compared to the figurations of the first violin. It is a canonical proportional technique, as was in vogue for the Flemish and Renaissance polyphonists. The first violins in the first part begin on sharp A5 and then repeatedly drop according to a rhythm in six quarters, adding a note to the lowest pitch of the scale; on the other hand, the first violins in the second part move along the notes of A minor arpeggio. The same is repeated with values dilated in other instruments, thus creating a harmonic-melodic texture on the notes of the eolic diatonic scale, like a sort of downward spiral projected simultaneously on several levels. In conjunction with the growing of the strokes of the bell, the arches gradually culminate over a fff, which remains constant until the conclusion. All of this is completed by gravitating on a long conclusive chord in A minor at full volume, suddenly leaving room for the slight distant resonance, at the edge of silence, of the last very delicate bell tolling. The Cantus, therefore, is essentially a moving meditation on death, symbolized by the initial silence from which the toll of the funeral bell intermittently emerge (alluding to the passing of Britten), by repeated descending movements toward a deep register, which pervade the entire work in their essential simplicity. This is also symbolized by the sound atmosphere of the minor mode and by the final silence with which the piece ends at its climax. In Arvo Pärt, all of this takes on a spiritual meaning related to his intimate religious faith.