a commonly misused term which refers to music having no perceived tonal center This perception is often due to the uneducated ears of the listener Twelve-tone and serial music can almost always be referred to as atonal Also, many 19th century compositions (Liszt's Nuages gris for instance or the opening section of the Faust Symphony) can also be referred to as atonal (although these works or passages may be more correctly described by the term suspended tonality)