Hue & Chroma

"Hue and "chroma" are two of the "dimensions" in the Munsell Colour System, developed by Albert Henry Munsell between 1898 and 1905. This system provides for objective description of colour by means of a three dimensional projection. Any colour may be defined by specifying three parameters: VALUE, based on a greyscale from 0 (black) to 10 (white), HUE - the basic colour specified by a scale of five "pure" colours and intermediate combinations, and CHROMA, the degree of saturation or dilution of the hue, lower values being more "dilute", as in pastel shades, higher values more saturated and intense.

In this piece I have used a musical parallel, with various colouristic parameters - harmonics, playing techniques, articulations and so forth - varying independently.  Since no fretted instrument can produce exact tempered intervals I decided to make a virtue out of necessity and detuned the guitar to allow certain harmonies that are not available in the tempered scale.

The piece is in one continuous movement comprising six interconnected sections. It is dedicated to Eoin Flood. My sincerest thanks to him and to Morgan Buckley.