Organum for 2 Harmonic Series Tuned Pianos composed (in 12 equal) by Carl Ruggles. I have two competing music thoughts – microtonality and the dissonant music of the 20th and 21st century. What lies between them is a wonderful connection because in many respects the music of our period has been written for 12 equal in a way that the music of the 19th century and before wasn’t. So in that sense 12 equal is being used like one would, for instance, 14 or 16 equal. Carl Ruggles is a great example of this. There is very little, if any, sense of classical functional harmony in his work. Of the few pieces he let survive him they all carve out a new vista and a way of treating 12 equal contrapuntally without the use of Schoenberg’s pantonal system.
By way of oblique comparison I am posting a 12 equal version string orchestra version of the two piano transcription of the originally orchestral Organum. Sort of the long way around… but I like it and perhaps you will too.
The harmonic series tuning for the piano version I used follows:
! C:\Cakewalk\scales\harm3-26skip2reduce2oct.scl
!
harm3-26skip2reduce2oct
12
!
25/24
13/12
7/6
5/4
17/12
3/2
19/12
5/3
7/4
11/6
23/12
2/1