Bang on a Can

Back Speed Double Circuit (2003) belongs to an original series of compositions that I began in 1994 for live performers and computer-generated sounds that incorporate magic squares as compositional models. A magic square consists of a series of numbers arranged so that the sum of each row, column and diagonal is the same amount. The unique position of each number within the square is paralleled in the musical score by a particular style, rhythm, density, timbre and orchestration. Of the enormous number of magic squares it is possible to form, seven have been associated with the seven planets of the Ptolemaic Universe (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, The Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon). These "Ptolemaic Magic Squares" appear in De Occulta Philosophia, a book on magic by the Renaissance polymath Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Von Nettesheim published in 1531. The "Magic Square of Mars" provides the structure and inspiration for BSDC. I would like to thank BOAC and Chamber Music America for commissioning this work, and David Bohn and Paul Oehlers for their assistance in preparing the score and CD part. -Zack Browning

Funds for the commission of Back Speed Double Circuit have been provided by Chamber Music America's Commissioning Program, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and The Chamber Music America Commissioning Endowment Fund