Composer’s Note:

“Barstow Bagatelle” makes use of the tuning system devised by Harry Partch and used in the guitar part of his “Barstow.” The 19 notes per octave is a non-symmetrical subset of his 43-tone scale. Some adjacent notes are just about a “half-step” apart, in 12-tone equal tempered tuning. In other parts of the scale it may take 4 adjacent notes to span the same interval. The harmonic possibilities range from stunningly pure consonance to excruciating dissonance, and “Barstow Bagatelle” uses most of that range.