sound of disquiet 1

Against Representation, Chapter 3

sound of disquiet 3

Bartók in Hot Spring

In both movements of this quartet, each instrument gets assigned a repeating rhythmic pattern—sequences of notes and rests of equal length (say, all eighth notes). 

The first violin plays a pattern of 11 beats (6 notes, 5 rests), the second violin a 7-beat pattern (4 notes, 3 rests), the viola 6 (3+3), and the cello 5 (3+2). These patterns cycle independently.

One full cycle  takes 2310 beats—the least common multiple of 11, 7, 6, and 5.

But—crucially—beat durations vary.

Indeed, the duration of a beat depends on its density—meaning how many instruments are sounding at that moment (0 through 4). Each density appears a fixed number of times within the full cycle, independent of pattern contents assuming the constraints above. 

The twist: beat durations get adjusted so that each density—whether a silence, solo, duo, trio, or a full quartet—occupies exactly one-fifth of the total time of the movement. Rare textures are stretched, common ones compressed.

Thus the interaction of the parts effects an emergent large-scale rhythm.

Out of millions of possible combinations of patterns, one movement employs the set that yields the most unpredictable overall rhythm (in a precisely defined mathematical sense). The other, the most predictable.

As for pitch: each instrument traces a fragment of the cycle of fifths—in near standard tuning. The quartet plays 17TET, so with the octave divided into 17 equal steps, which makes a "perfect" fifth span 10 steps. Each instrument repeatedly travels through this cycle fragment, alternating between octaves. Individually, the lines sound diatonic; together, they form unfamiliar and highly dissonant verticalities—often stranger than even the most dissonant music in 12-tone systems.

Despite this microtonality, no specialized technique is required. If each player tunes their instrument to a slightly different “A,” then standard fingerings suffice—as long as they resist the instinct to tune to one another.

Waves, Winds, Mind - Mvt. I

hann-tann (한탄)

RABIN  ASSASSINATION - 30  YEARS  OF  POST  TRAUMA

five parts in a 99-98-97-96-95 ratio with tempo changes, and trumpet 1 in 17-19-21-23-25-28-31 partials tuning; trumpet 2 in Pythagorean, Horn in Just 7 limit, Trombone in quarter tones, and Tuba in 19/53tet. This piece has other related versions, but this is the final poly version. For now. Composed 2025. Score in process. 

Brass Quintet 2b, in Polytempic Polymicrotonality

Composed in March, 2019

Photograph by Ella Josephine Campbell
https://ellajosephinephoto.com/

Death By Water 2

A Hunger Art

L'Occurrence

Composer, mathematician, visual artist. 
Seeks collaboration with performers and choreographers.

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Waves, Winds, Mind - Mvt. I

David Victor Feldman