Abstract

The music of Argentinian composer Santiago Diez-Fischer places particular emphasis on the sense of touch. The sonic textures and the notations the composer use illustrate this. In several pieces, his writing indicates surfaces to rub, caress, and press. The resulting sound is complex, often on the edge of noise. In this article, I argue that the notion of presentational symbol as proposed by Susanne Langer serves to clarify how such music is an expression of tactile experience. I show how this notion relates to all music in general, and precisely because music is such a symbol that it can be understood and interpreted in its meaning through listening. I make the assumption that all music is presentational; however, such generality must be overcome by a more important requirement. Once we know that music is a presentational symbol, what does it symbolize? I think music symbolizes different things every time and it is possible to understand this, as long as you listen and bring your own experience into play. Here, I have tried to do this by referring to the work of Santiago Diez-Fischer. I argue then that the emotion of touch is then communicated as a specific and unique musical form. In this sense, Diez-Fischer’s music is paradigmatic.