ANDERS HULTQVIST

The parts in the piece are ordered with the logic of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, which is also reflected in Signe Gjessing’s poetical comment Philosophico-Poeticus, and in addition takes some inspiration from the sequential logics of the seven main propositions of W. Even if more sensually based propositions are scarce in Tractatus it includes propositions that point towards more relational than strictly functional properties.

It's not far away to think of musical and sounding structures where frequencies and rhythms define each other in iterating hierarchical loops. The ‘propositions’ of the piece builds on basic, or conventional, musical tropes that through their relative relations try to instigate a meta-comment, a Poeticus–Sonans, in the vicinity of the thematic of the two books.

The internal gestural topography could be seen as having a formal progression going from material soundings to wider and wider musical movements/gestures to hierarchical structures: e.g., from toneless brushing (on strings and instrumental bodies) – long notes (sounds) – large finger vibrato – ¼ note (up-down) – glissandi – singing bowl wobbling (within harpsichord) – trills – arpeggios – minimalistic (mordent) figures – musical gestures (heterophonic aggregations) – on to phrasing – complex rhythms – and contrapuntal structures.

35 sections in the piece following the form of Tractatus in constituting basic propositions with comments, and comments on the comments.