Radulescu: the other spectralist

Rădulescu is often marginalised in discussion of the early spectral composers in contrast to the Parisian 'mainstream' of (in particular) Murail and Grisey. Furthermore, his music and thought are often placed as a somewhat 'mystical' antithesis to that of Grisey. However, despite the dissimilarity on the surface of the music, the underlying principles by which Rădulescu's musical style was built are in many respects identical to those of the mainstream spectral ideal. This paper unpicks some of Rădulescu's theoretical works to demonstrate the commonality of thought with Murail and Grisey, and suggests reasons for their sounding divergence.  There follows a detailed analysis of Rădulescu's solo viola piece Das Andere, Op. 49 (1983), placed in comparison with Grisey's Prologue (1976).