Time Immemorial

[Otto Halmén]

My dad uses the term fritonal (≈ free tonal) to refer to music that sits somewhere between tonal and atonal. I have no idea what the correct term is in English, or if there even is one to begin with (Yes, I've tried Googling for it). The term comes up when we talk about music like that of Claude Debussy, where things like harmony and voice leading stem from classical music, but the chord progressions appear to move more or less fluidly between keys and modes. It feels like taking your old music and recontextualizing the familiar progressions and structures into something that feels more complex and nature-like. It's kind of like painting with muted colors.

If someone (*cough* Sam *cough) might know of some good resources on this, I'd love some pointers.