Furthermore, one can see Chion’s use of “splicing” (a
“cinematic” cut between scenes). The first occurrence of
this widens the noise bands of the sustained components and
shifts the pitch center to C. This is followed by a second
splice to rapidly glissing material with clashing filtered
noise frequency bands. The cadence of this opening phrase
is on a sustained organ-like sound which is thinner in
number of partials present, and also stable in pitch. Rupture
is expressed through the use of tape editing techniques
(juxtaposition through splicing) and flow maps onto noise
shaping (morphology), pitch drift and silence, which occurs
immediately before the text recitation. Clearly, dissonance is
increased by destabilizing pitch, widening noise bands, and
the disruptive splicing of these textures, as well as the very
u s e o f this unexpected material, which clashes with the
lattice-based (tonal) nature of traditional Requiem settings
that typical Mass listeners would be expecting.
Within the familiar narrative, Chion uses noise as a
framing device, demarcating each movement or portion of a
movement, and setting it in its own sonic environment. One
function of noise is that it reduces or obscures the
comprehensibility of the acoustic environment (Truax
1992). Noise in the context of splicing is heard as
disturbing to the textual flow of the Requiem; it provides
disruptions in the continuity, which serve to engage the
listener’s attention. These disruptions invite, and perhaps
even force the listener to instinctively project himself or
herself into the spaces between the noise, because that is
where meaning can be found. Beyond using noise as a
formal marker, Chion uses it at strategic points to weaken,
and paradoxically to strengthen, the listener’s relationship to
the environment. Presented with a disruption in meaning,
the listener’s impulse is to attempt to reestablish connection
with that meaning.