PreCambrian
2003 (04:40)
Guitar quartet

Program Note
This piece loosely draws a parallel with the beginnings of muticellular organisms in the precambrian era. The material begins as a two note cell, and gradually expands, first texturally, then in a melodically linear way, to develop into larger chains, like amino acids along a strand of DNA, or like individual cells functioning together in a multicellular organism. Harmonically, the piece focuses on a pleasingly symmetrical octotonic scale, which seemed to align with the principles of physics and chemistry that the extra-musical concepts relate to. Throughout the duration of the piece, the texture thickens leading up to climaxes, then narrows, in a reference to catastrophic events that more than once wiped out much of the primordial life on earth in the precambrian era.
– WG, 2003

PreCambrian . Catalogue 040 . Copyright © Wally Gunn . May 2013