Iain Matheson

Programme Note

Written for David and Clare Lesser.

Texts used :
"Notes are the first elements of song" (Musica Enchiridiadis, c 950).
"Three things; noise, a fundamental sound and accompanying sounds" (Jean-Phillippe Rameau, 'Demonstration du Principe de l'Harmonie', 1750
"A note is not a simple thing" (Anton webern, ;'The Path to the New Music", 1930).
The texts are taken from documents of music theory from different periods. They are secondary in two senses - first, they refer to music but are not themselves music; second, they were selected after the music was composed. The piece as a whole is not, therefore, a "setting" of the texts: instead it reflects on the always-fragile juxtaposition of music and words.