The Bohlen-Pierce Symposium
First symposium on the Bohlen-Pierce scale, Boston, March 7 – 9, 2010
Mallia: The Larches

John Mallia: The Larches (2010)

The Larches is a brief work composed of high frequency synthetic waveforms and soft-edged noise. I remember my Dad planting these small Larch trees when I was a kid. When I visit my parents’ home in Syracuse, it amazes me how big the trees have grown, and how delicate they still seem — filigree.
The frequencies used in this composition were derived from fragments of the justly tuned Bohlen-Pierce scale in various transpositions at intervals inherent to the structure of the collection. A scale based on an interval of 833 cents (a minor sixth, 1/6 tone sharp) is also employed as a recurring harmonic departure. Thank you to my longtime friend and colleague Julia Werntz for requesting this composition.