Cabinet of Curiosities

Many of my pieces of music involve the use of irrational procedures alongside more systematic means. In fact I would go further than that and claim that art and the irrational are inextricably entwined and that this is what marks it out as a human activity. This irrationality is not just the eruption of randomness though, it might be described as intuition, insight, inspiration, synchronicity or a type of magic. If we are human we have the potential to recognise this meaningful chaos in a piece of music and resonate with it at a none verbal level. Based on these precepts I have trawled through many arcane and archaic philosophies in search of that spark of inspiration which will set the writing of a piece of music in motion. Some of the material below is related to that, it is presented without further comment, make of it what you will...

Solve et Coagula

A diagram for the construction of musical sigils.

The inspiration for the piece Ophidian

The inspiration for Labyrinth Lit by Fire

Bifurcation diagram of the logistic map x → r x (1 – x).

Each vertical slice shows the attractor for a specific value for.

The diagram displays period-doubling as r increases, eventually producing chaos.

The inspiration for Seven Seals

(Revelations of St John the Divine)