Bringing On the Unease

 “Microwave for three minutes?”
I can’t wave that small for such a long time.
— Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

Tonality and modality are no more than words in a dictionary. They are of practical use but by no means indispensable. If you look at history, you’ll see that after birdsong, which imitated rain, the oceans and the noise of storms, people began to sing in octaves and fifths, according to the natural distribution of voices; then came modes — pentatonic modes from China, diatonic ones from Greece and chromatic ones from India. This modal language was used for centuries, because tonality as such didn’t emerge until Bach’s day, when it was merged with a highly modal and chromatic language. Before him, Monteverdi and Gesualdo were highly chromatic, just as Mozart was after him. If you like, tonality proper has existed for only two centuries, and Beethoven strikes me as the only composer who is frankly tonal. With Chopin and even more with Debussy, this famous tonality becomes veiled once again. Beyond these concepts, the only phenomenon inherent to the world of sound and which composers have to take into account is resonance.
— Olivier Messiaen, from an interview with Jean-Christophe Marti, January 1992

A collaboration which was years in the waiting: my colleague and friend, the most excellent guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, has created the première of Uneasy Sleep, Op. 203, and the composer could not possibly be better pleased.

A young couple and their energetic little girl were seated on the bench in front of me, and as I intended recording video on my phone, I thought with mildly amused pleasure what fun it would be if the child vocalised during my piece, which would be in accord with Aaron’s earlier remarks on John Cage. However, the mother had the most considerate thought of taking her daughter to the front of the club to forestall any disturbance (though as I say, I should not have considered myself or my piece disturbed.