The piece uses interpolation to make a smooth transformation on all musical parameters including spectral profile, envelope, and instrumental attacks.[4] The bell sounds were created through a Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis with a single modulator affecting five carriers to create five different harmonies, these being connected by interpolated chords.[5] The components of the trombone's frequency spectrum was derived through a Fourier transform.[2]
The piece's long quiet or silent moments are shaped in "long, seamlessly evolving paragraphs" evoking the geological processes which created the continent. The first opening slowly transforms a chord before turning to trills.[6] The opening chord has been compared to the work of Messiaen.[1][7] The piece, "incorporates a substantial passage directly modelled upon," Sibelius's Lemminkäinen in Tuonela from the Four Lemminkäinen Legends op.22 (1896).[8]
Sources
^ abStaines, Joes (2010). The Rough Guide to Classical Music, p.372. ISBN978-1-4053-8321-9. "The locus classicus of early spectral music".