Symphonies -- Scores and parts

Abstract

Throughout history, wondrous discoveries of science, like great pieces of music, have often come about through extraordinary feats of creativity, informed by deep rational thought yet not limited by it. Like science, music composition requires a mastery of its own technical features (instrumentation, orchestration, harmony, counterpoint, etc.), but neither music nor science can flourish when too much emphasis is placed upon the mechanical and not enough on the imagination.

Composers have sometimes turned to mathematics as a tool for generating art though the systematization of musical elements. However, music often suffers from the conscious attempt by composers to bring it closer to the world of science and math through the serialization of musical material. This does not mean that mathematics and science do not play an important part in music of great expression. To be sure, composers have used simple mathematical concepts to discuss, analyze, and create music at every stage, whether consciously or unconsciously, since the beginning of Western music.

These ideas are at the very heart of the great music of previous centuries, even if we celebrate those works more for their intrinsic beauty than their rational mechanics. It is the inventiveness and creativity that we find easy to value in music, but the science behind it also makes its creation possible.

My symphony pays tribute to the marriage of creativity, not process, in scientific and musical thought, using the words of scientists and mathematicians as poetic texts, which generate musical imagery. I have chosen a series of quotations by notable scientists and mathematicians throughout history, which serve as textual introductions for each movement of the six-movement, approximately forty-five minute orchestral symphony. Each quotation makes reference to a specific scientific or mathematical discovery of its writer, or displays an aspect of his philosophy. The ideas expressed in the quotations serve as abstract inspiration and suggest musical imagery for each respective movement.