Tim Benjamin

"There is the theory of the Möbius band, a region in space where time turns back on itself..."

This work follows the form of the famous Möbius band or strip, which is a strip that has only one side. More information here and here.

A Möbius band can be easily constructed by taking a strip of paper, twisting it once, and joining the ends together. If you draw a line along it, you will see that it only has one side. The music in this piece is similarly constructed: it has a "twist" in the middle that turns the music upside-down, and starts to run backwards.

Commissioned by the European Community Chamber Orchestra, the piece involves a string ensemble split in two, with players standing to face each other (or sitting, in the case of the cellos). The music slowly bounces back and forth between the groups, all the while evolving organically (I used the medieval technique of hockets, although more recently inspired by Louis Andriessen).

Later (possibly 1996), while a student at the RNCM, I made a version of this piece for full orchestra, allowing for subtle orchestral shades to evolve over time.