Heterophony

Individual lines of melody and variants sound in unison or octaves only at specific structural points, and the simultaneity of different pitches does not follow the Western system of organized chord progressions.

Between the structural points where the pitches coincide (unison or octaves) each individual line follows the style idiomatic for the instrument playing it.

Though these complexes of pitches between structural points may strike the Western listener as arbitrary and inconsequential, the individual lines are highly consequential and logical linearly.

Bach: as well as Mozart: and Mahler: In the 20th century, Benjamin Britten used heterophony to great effect in many pieces, including parts of the War Requiem and especially in the instrumental interludes of his three church parables: Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son.

Peter Evans explains it as follows: "So unexpectedly stark were the sounds Britten drew from this group, and in particular so little dependent of his familiar harmonic propulsion, that listeners were ready to trace direct exotic influences in many features of the score.