leescottnewcombe

The debut work in the Hell of the Same series portrays a disquieting scenario of perpetual self-reference as a dehumanising vision of echo chambers and feedback loops. The hell of the same is juxtaposed with the primitive sensorial aesthetics of otherness.

 

World Soul features a singular processual pitch procedure replicated three times with separate durational values. The work takes its architectural form from aspects of Plato’s vision of the world-soul in the dialogue Timaeus (c.360 BCE).

 

The three replications of the tonal revolution represent the three elements that constitute the world-soul: Difference, Sameness, and Existence. These are expressed as the beings known only as /, o, and ø. They are a blend of each other through durational proportions taken from Plato’s numerical divisions. 

 

The Demiurge is a subordinate god who fashions and arranges the physical world to make it conform to a rational and eternal idea. It is the agent Plato describes as beginning “the division by first taking a single portion from the mixture; next he took a portion which was double the quantity of the first, and then a third portion, which was one-and-a-half times the quantity of the second and three times the quantity of the first; then he took a fourth portion which was double the quantity of the second, and a fifth which was three times the quantity of the third, and a sixth which was eight times the quantity of the first, and then a seventh portion which was twenty-seven times the quantity of the first” (Plato, trans. Robin Waterfield, 2008. Timaeus and Critias, p.23). These divisions present us with a sequence of numbers to create durational and processual pitch orderings: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8, and 27. 

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1 beat is assigned to the the actions of opening and closing eyes in all three parts. These are accompanied sonically with percussed diapason. 2, 3, and 4 are utilized as visually inactive periods in beats between eye movement and the opening or closing of mouths. / has 4 beats between opening eyes and mouth, and three beats between closing mouth and eyes. o has 3 beats between opening eyes and mouth, and 2 beats between closing mouth and eyes. ø has 4 beats between opening eyes and mouth, and 2 beats between closing mouth and eyes. 

 

9 signifies the number of bars in 3/4 between closing and opening of eyes in all three parts. 8 is the duration of beats that the mouth is open for all three parts. This action is accompanied sonically with sustained pitches from the diapason and anemoi.

 

The final number in the sequence, 27, relates to the total cumulative number of pitches that can be sounded at any one moment. These are spread throughout the parts in three groups of nine. These nonad groupings consist of a section of the processual pitch procedure which motions in a min3 | MAJ3 sequence. 

 

The following are the durational lengths for each tonal revolution:

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/ = 1554 bars 2 beats (1 hr 51 mins 5 secs),

o = 1484 bars (1 hr 46 mins),

ø = 1519 bars 1 beat (1 hr 48 mins 31 secs).

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These temporal enclosures combine to produce a total cumulative timeframe with a duration of 1812 hrs 36 mins.