Editing Tone cluster (section)

===In later classical music===
[[File:Bartók Béla 1927.jpg|thumb|right|[[Béla Bartók]] and Henry Cowell met in December 1923. Early the next year, the Hungarian composer wrote Cowell to ask whether he might adopt tone clusters without causing offense.]]
In 1922, composer [[Dane Rudhyar]], a friend of Cowell's, declared approvingly that the development of the tone cluster "imperilled [the] existence" of "the musical unit, the note".<ref>Quoted in Hicks (2002), p. 108.</ref> While that threat was not to be realized, clusters began to appear in the works of a growing number of composers. Already, [[Aaron Copland]] had written his ''Three Moods'' (aka ''Trois Esquisses''; 1920–21) for piano—its name an apparent homage to a piece of Leo Ornstein's—which includes a triple-[[Dynamics (music)|forte]] cluster.<ref>Pollack (2000), p. 44.</ref> The most renowned composer to be directly inspired by Cowell's demonstrations of his tone cluster pieces was [[Béla Bartók]], who requested Cowell's permission to employ the method.<ref>Stevens (1993), p. 67.</ref> Bartók's [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Bartók)|First Piano Concerto]], [[Piano Sonata (Bartók)|Piano Sonata]], and the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xU-p9wmSqg&t=6m40s "Night Music"] from the [[Out of Doors (Bartók)|''Out of Doors'']] suite (all 1926), his first significant works after three years in which he produced little, extensively feature tone clusters.<ref>Steinberg (2000), p. 37; Satola (2005), pp. 85–86; Lampert and Somfai (1984), p. 60.</ref>

In the 1930s, Cowell's student [[Lou Harrison]] utilized keyboard clusters in several works such as his Prelude for Grandpiano (1937).<ref>Miller and Lieberman (2004), pp. 10, 135.</ref> At least as far back as 1942, [[John Cage]], who also studied under Cowell, began writing piano pieces with cluster chords; ''In the Name of the Holocaust'', from December of that year, includes chromatic, diatonic, and pentatonic clusters.<ref>Salzman (1996), p. 3 (unpaginated).</ref> [[Olivier Messiaen]]'s ''[[Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus|Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus]]'' (1944), often described as the most important solo piano piece of the first half of the twentieth century, employs clusters throughout.<ref>Meister (2006), p. 131–132.</ref> They would feature in numerous subsequent piano works, by a range of composers. [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]'s ''[[Klavierstücke (Stockhausen)#Klavierstück X|Klavierstück X]]'' (1961) makes bold, rhetorical use of chromatic clusters, scaled in seven degrees of width, from three to thirty-six semitones, as well as ascending and descending cluster arpeggios and cluster glissandi.<ref>Harvey (1975), p. 43; Henck (1980), p. 17; Maconie (2005), p. 217.</ref> Written two decades later, his ''[[Klavierstücke (Stockhausen)#Klavierstück XIII|Klavierstück XIII]]'' employs many of the same techniques, along with clusters that call for the pianist to sit down on the keyboard.<ref>Rigoni (2001), p. 53.</ref> [[George Crumb]]'s ''Apparitions, Elegiac Songs, and Vocalises for Soprano and Amplified Piano'' (1979), a setting of verse by [[Walt Whitman]], is filled with clusters, including an enormous one that introduces three of its sections.<ref>Kramer (2000), p. 137.</ref> The piano part of the second movement of [[Joseph Schwantner]]'s song cycle ''Magabunda'' (1983) has perhaps the single largest chord ever written for an individual instrument: all 88 notes on the keyboard.<ref>"Other: 1. Vertical extremes" in [http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/donbyrd/CMNExtremes.htm Extremes of Conventional Music Notation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308113537/http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/donbyrd/CMNExtremes.htm |date=2010-03-08 }}.</ref>

While tone clusters are conventionally associated with the piano, and the solo piano repertoire in particular, they have also assumed important roles in compositions for chamber groups and larger ensembles. Robert Reigle identifies Croatian composer [[Josip Štolcer-Slavenski|Josip Slavenski]]'s organ-and-violin ''Sonata Religiosa'' (1925), with its sustained chromatic clusters, as "a missing link between Ives and [[György Ligeti|[György] Ligeti]]."<ref>{{cite web|author=Reigle, Robert|url=http://www.lafolia.com/archive/reigle/reigle200204gems.html|title=Forgotten Gems|work=La Folia|date=April 2002|access-date=2007-08-19}}</ref> Bartók employs both diatonic and chromatic clusters in his [[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|Fourth String Quartet]] (1928).<ref>{{harvnb|Trueman|1999}}. See also Robin Stowell, "Extending the Technical and Expressive Frontiers," in ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet]]'', ed. Stowell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003; {{ISBN|0-521-80194-X}}), pp. 149–173; p. 162.</ref> The [[sound mass]] technique in such works as [[Ruth Crawford Seeger]]'s [[String Quartet (Crawford-Seeger)|String Quartet]] (1931) and [[Iannis Xenakis]]'s ''[[Metastaseis (Xenakis)|Metastaseis]]'' (1955) is an elaboration of the tone cluster. "Unlike most tonal and non-tonal linear dissonances, tone clusters are essentially static. The individual pitches are of secondary importance; it is the sound mass that is foremost."<ref>Reisberg, Horace (1975). "The Vertical Dimension", ''Aspects of 20th Century Music'', p.355. Wittlich, Gary; ed. Prentice-Hall. {{ISBN|0130493465}}.</ref> In one of the most famous pieces associated with the sound mass aesthetic, containing, "one of the largest clustering of individual pitches that has been written",<ref>Reisberg (1975), p.358.</ref> [[Krzysztof Penderecki]]'s ''[[Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima]]'' (1959), for fifty-two string instruments, the [[quarter-tone]] clusters "see[m] to have abstracted and intensified the features that define shrieks of terror and keening cries of sorrow."<ref>Hogan (2003), p. 179.</ref> Clusters appear in two sections of the electronic music of Stockhausen's ''[[Kontakte]]'' (1958–1960)—first as "hammering points...very difficult to synthesize", according to Robin Maconie, then as glissandi.<ref>Maconie (2005), p. 217.</ref> In 1961, Ligeti wrote perhaps the largest cluster chord ever—in the orchestral ''[[Atmosphères]]'', every note in the chromatic scale over a range of five [[octave]]s is played at once (quietly).<ref>Steinitz (2003), p.&nbsp;108.</ref> Ligeti's organ works make extensive use of clusters. ''Volumina'' (1961–62), graphically notated, consists of static and mobile cluster masses, and calls on many advanced cluster-playing techniques.<ref>Steinitz (2003), pp. 124–126; Herchenröder (2002), p. 303.</ref>

The eighth movement of Messiaen's [[oratorio]] ''[[La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ]]'' (1965–1969) features "a shimmering halo of tone-cluster glissandi" in the strings, evoking the "bright cloud" to which the narrative refers ({{Audio|Messiaen-Transfiguration M8.ogg|listen}}).<ref>Smither (2000), p. 674.</ref> Orchestral clusters are employed throughout Stockhausen's ''[[Fresco (Stockhausen)|Fresco]]'' (1969) and ''[[Trans (Stockhausen)|Trans]]'' (1971).<ref name="Maconie 2005, p. 338">Maconie (2005), p. 338.</ref> In [[Morton Feldman]]'s ''Rothko Chapel'' (1971), "Wordless vocal tone clusters seep out through the skeletal arrangements of viola, celeste, and percussion."<ref>{{cite web|author=Swan, Glenn|url=http://www.windowsmedia.com/MediaGuide/Templates/AlbumInfo.aspx?a_id=R%20%20%20201863|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930194316/http://www.windowsmedia.com/MediaGuide/Templates/AlbumInfo.aspx?a_id=R%20%20%20201863|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-09-30|title=''Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel (1971) for Chorus, Viola and Percussion/Why Patterns? (1978)'' (review)|publisher=WindowsMedia|work=Allmusic|access-date=2007-08-18 }}</ref> [[Aldo Clementi]]'s chamber ensemble piece ''Ceremonial'' (1973) evokes both Verdi and Ives, combining the original extended-duration and mass cluster concepts: a weighted wooden board placed on an electric [[Pump organ|harmonium]] maintains a tone cluster throughout the work.<ref name=HR624/> Judith Bingham's ''Prague'' (1995) gives a brass band the opportunity to create tone clusters.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hindmarsh, Paul|url=http://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2002/art274.asp|title=The Regional Test Pieces 2003|publisher=4barsrest.com|access-date=2007-08-19}}</ref> Keyboard clusters are set against orchestral forces in piano concertos such as [[Einojuhani Rautavaara]]'s first (1969) and [[Esa-Pekka Salonen]]'s (2007), the latter suggestive of Messiaen.<ref>Tommasini (2007).</ref> The choral compositions of [[Eric Whitacre]] often employ clusters, as a trademark of his style.<ref>Larson (2006), p. 23</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.a-cappella.com/product/5068/classical-byusingers |title=''Brigham Young Univ. Singers: Eric Whitacre: Complete A Cappella Works'' (review) |publisher=a-capella.com |year=2002 |access-date=2008-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209211548/http://www.a-cappella.com/product/5068/classical-byusingers |archive-date=2008-02-09 |url-status=dead }} {{cite web |author=Paulin, Scott |url=http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=34571175430 |title=''Whitacre: Cloudburst and Other Choral Works'' (review) |publisher=Barnes & Noble |year=2006 |access-date=2008-02-25 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Whitacre's chord clusters are fundamentally based around [[voice leading]] and not easily interpretable by traditional harmonic analysis.<ref>Larson (2006), pp. 23–24</ref>

Three composers who made frequent use of tone clusters for a wide variety of ensembles are [[Giacinto Scelsi]], [[Alfred Schnittke]]—both of whom often worked with them in microtonal contexts—and Lou Harrison. Scelsi employed them for much of his career, including in his last large-scale work, ''Pfhat'' (1974), which premiered in 1986.<ref>Halbreich (1988), pp. 9, 11 (unpaginated).</ref> They are found in works of Schnittke's ranging from the Quintet for Piano and Strings (1972–1976), where "microtonal strings fin[d] tone clusters between the cracks of the piano keys",<ref>{{cite web|author=Drury, Stephen|url=http://www.callithumpian.org/html/news/fund05.htm |title=Callithumpian Consort Announces March Fund Rasing Concert at West Roxbury's Theodore Parker Church|publisher=Callithumpian Consort|date=2005-02-15|access-date=2009-06-03 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928060034/http://www.callithumpian.org/html/news/fund05.htm |archive-date = 2007-09-28}}</ref> to the choral ''Psalms of Repentance'' (1988). Harrison's many pieces featuring clusters include ''Pacifika Rondo'' (1963), Concerto for Organ with Percussion (1973), Piano Concerto (1983–1985), Three Songs for male chorus (1985), Grand Duo (1988), and ''Rhymes with Silver'' (1996).<ref>Miller and Lieberman (2004), pp. 10, 99, 135, 155.</ref>