mitigated octotonic
The sound of the opening of Poema armónico is *minor 7 chord*, with little inflections to 027. To extend this sound through the chromatic space we have the octotonic option, transposing by multiples of 3, the minor third cycle. There are other ways to transpose the minor 7 chord through the chromatic space. 3 is not the only interval.
I'm not afraid of a wee whiff of octotonic, but composing with the octotonic scale or jamming on the octotonic scale is too easy. Moreover, the 3 cycle extensions of the minor 7 chord is a lovely post-tonal way to extend that harmony, but the behavior of the octotonic scale is so predictable that I prefer to lace minor third extensions with other transpositions, particularly more tonal ones. I get encouragement here from the wonderful things Terry Riley does in his Y Bolanzero.
Also, at this moment I am exploring the large, "public" entities:
Octotonic (with great caution)
Augmented scale (012589), aka "E Hexachord"
Mystic Chord
Diatonic hexachord
Diatonic septachord (diatonic collections *with tritones*)
Chromatic Hexachord
Crossings between a collection where a pitch has fewer relationships to the others to one with a wealth of relationships is a meaningful crossing.
E hexachord 014589 has
6 major 3rds
3 5ths
3 semitones
3 minor thirds
The diatonic septachord enjoys this wonderful dynamic:
1 tritone
2 semitones
3 major 3rds
4 minor 3rds
5 major 2nds
6 fourths
In the ancient world of 12-tone music these large "public" collections were thought to lack specificity that some rows & partitios offer. On the other hand, a composer can constellate the interplay of larger elements in ways that are absolutely unique to a given piece of music, matching the specificity of 12-tone music.
The behavior of rows has become problematic, but arrays and especially counterpoints of arrays showed us the way out of that. My way, at this moment comes from experience with super-arrays.
Octotonic is problematic for me because it is most frequently abused. The E hexachord is more claustrophobic space, but it's more off the radar.
William Anderson
I compose, play plucked instruments, run ensembles, produce concerts, and advocate for new music, I soaked up contemporary American music for 30 years, working directly with composers from all over the map. In the last 20 years I began composing works that draw on that experience, with a particular concern for finding a coherent way to make reconciling musics that were sealed off from one another. How to make embarrassingly simple and charming music work with the most complex musical modalities? Tipping in this direction has made me aware of the dangers of grasping too firmly onto any one notion.
I've come to Macherey's vision that our shadow (what we're *not*) is radiantly present in our work. So it's perfectly reasonable to *love everything*. We're imbricated. --
**The true necessity of the text manifests itself in the fact that not a word of it can be changed and nothing can be added, even though it appears at each moment as though a new topic could be chosen, an alternative narrative selected. But it is precisely this ceaseless shadowy presence of other possible phrases which could be pronounced, this ineradicable sense that things could have been other than they are, which enforces the constraining necessity of the text we actually have before us.**--Macherey