The Golden Canon was composed for the
Solaris
wind quintet in residence at the University of Akron, Ohio in November
of 1984. The work consists of a one minute introductory movement
featuring
a simple canonic theme followed by a six minute Canon. The Canon is 144
bars long with a climax at bar 89 (the golden mean) at which point the
canonic theme from the introductory movement reappears. Throughout the
Canon the tempo (72mm), meter (3/4), tonality (Bb), harmonic rhythm,
fundamental
progression (I - IV), and instrumentation (all five players
continuously
playing) remain constant. What changes is everything else: texture,
rhythm,
register, range, melody, chromaticism, incidental harmony,
counterpoint,
all undergo a gradual and continuous canonic transformation from the
simplicity
of a single tone to the complexity of sound mass and back. For all of
its
apparent formalism the Golden Canon was intuitively conceived and
stands
as an intimate paradigm of the composers style.
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