# Penderecki's Polymorphia



## smoledman (Feb 6, 2012)

Is there anything else like it, or one of a kind work at a time when avant-garde music(early 1960s) was the rage?

Obviously rose to fame in the 1970s with horror epics "The Exorcist" and "The Shining", surprised no other composer has taken on this form of writing in tone clusters.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I don't think that style has ever had many adopters outside the world of film music, where its visceral, superficial nature is well suited to horror and so forth. In terms of modern/contemporary classical music you'll probably find something to like in Ligeti's "micropolyphony" pieces like _Atmosphéres_, Xenakis' orchestral works, Cerha's _Spiegel_, but they tend to be more subtle and varied than Penderecki.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

I'd advice you to look into what is termed "textural music" and "spectral music", both make a use of sound, depending on the piece, that share a common trait with Polymorphia and other Penderecki pieces


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I wanted to suggest George Crumb's "Black Angels," but I'm not sure that's tone clusters so much as just harrowing in places. It does have its share of unusual textures and timbres though.


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