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Instrumentation
Additional Information
Written in 2021, Beyond Infinity is scored for a nonet of strings, consisting of 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 violoncelli and 1 double bass. It lasts around 8¾ minutes.
The title suggests the vastness of the physical and non-physical universe. The music is a kind of meditation on this huge expanse, which scientists say is expanding all the time.
Much of the music is chordal and in a slow tempo. Initially, three chordal phrases are built up from the lower strings, followed by one starting from the top, using a 3-note figuration. Lastly, in this section, another chord builds from the bass using the same figuration.
In the second section, the tempo is slightly faster and another chord builds up using an extended figuration, followed by a cascade of descending scales. This is followed by another slow tempo section with similar chords to the first section, using tremolo strings.
The music then returns to a variation of the music from the faster section, after which the tempo slows down slightly and the first and only melody is heard, circling around just 6 notes. The melody is repeated without variation in different instruments, builds to a climax and, after subsiding, the tempo returns to the first slow tempo with a coda, which is based on the opening chords, played tremolo. The chords fade away, bit by bit, into silence.
