Re: [microsound] Is choral music ambient?

[kathy kennedy <kathykennedy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think the choral music you're referring to; Monteverdi, Palestrina,  
and particularly their antecedants Leontin and Perotin were  
intentionally making a kind of music that had ambient qualities. Or  
by ambient are we talking also about "trance"? Because if so we can  
go way further back in history, and even into non-western history  
(imagine!) to ritual. African drumming... any kind of sacred music.
I think the initial question could be rephrased not exclusively about  
ambient music, but rather about music that is not heavily focussed on  
form. There are masterpieces of renaissance choral music such as  
Palestrina that have deep preoccupations with form, but they were  
never intended to concern their listeners with the compositional  
issues of form.



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