Nerve

About

Nerve follows on from my recent work, where I became fascinated by the possibilities of microtonality. Like the previous work, Duos, Nerve explores the immense range of permutations possible when instruments capable of microtonality and a continuous range of pitch, are combined with an instrument like the piano with its range of discrete pitches. In Nerve, I was able to complicate the concept further with the addition of percussion, which while largely limited in this set up to instruments of discrete pitch, also adds a much wider range of 'un-pitched' or 'indistinct pitched' sounds. This shifting harmonic world, with its two sides simultaneouly complementing and pulling against each other, provides much of the impetus for the work. The title is a reference to the way I perceive the material being passed from instrument to instrument, in a constant stream which, due to the differing harmonic possibilities of the instruments, is constantly reorganised, though initially all drawn from the same cells.