Charing Cross

for electronic instruments in just intonation

Kyle Gann
2007
Charing Cross
Sometimes I like to use microtones in a songlike, almost pop kind of context to bring the
tuning weirdness into even greater relief. Charing Cross moves among chords based on
the 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th harmonics, as well as on the tonic and on 15/14 (a virtual 17th
harmonic, though actually slightly more exotic). Using software that let me add
microtones freely as I went along, I ended up with 39 pitches to the octave. (Only 37
different pitches were used in the realization; when two pitches are closer than five cents
I merge them, just to simplify the realization.) The form of the piece is a loose additive
process: first the 7th-harmonic and 13th-harmonic tonalities are introduced, later the 9th
and 15/14, and the 11th-harmonic tonality is saved for the very end. The opening bass
line started ringing in my head as I was sitting outside by the Thames near the Charing
Cross underground station in London, and I commenced composing the piece on a napkin
at the closest outdoor Italian restaurant. That was September 6, 2007. I finished the piece
back home in Germantown on the 13th.

The complete scale is given on the following page, in Ben Johnstons just-intonation
notation. In this notation, + raises a pitch by 81/80, - lowers it by 80/81, # raises it by
25/24, b lowers it by 24/25, 7 lowers it by 35/36, L raises it by 36/35, ^ raises it by 33/32,
13 raises it by 65/64, and F-A-C, C-E-G, and G-B-D are all perfectly tuned 4:5:6 major
triads.

All accidentals remain in effect until the measure ends.

Selected performances:
October 9, 2007 presented by the Karnatic Lab at De Badcuyp in Amsterdam (world
premiere)
October 25, 2007, at the Mendelssohnsaal of the Hochschule fr Musik und Theater in
Hamburg, Germany
November 7, 2007, at Trinity College in Dublin
February 8, 2008, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington

Duration: 8 minutes
 Charing Cross Scale

& : -E : O
Pitch: + . , + O ,- ,-

1/1 81/80 65/64 33/32 15/14 35/32 143/128 9/8 55/48 77/64 135/112 39/32 5/4
Ratio: 191.8 203.9 235.7 320.1 323.4 342.5 386.3
Cents: 0 21.5 26.8 53.3 119.4 155.1

&+ ++ : + . , #+ O
- + ,: . -;+
81/64 21/16 75/56 27/20 65/48 11/8 45/32 91/64 35/24 165/112 3/2 195/128 49/32
407.8 470.8 505.8 519.6 524.9 551.3 590.2 609.4 653.2 670.8 702 728.8 737.7

& , : O + * , ; : O E ,- ++
99/64 45/28 13/8 5/3 27/16 12/7 55/32 7/4 25/14 117/64 15/8 121/64 63/32
755.2 821.4 840.5 884.4 905.9 933.1 937.6 968.8 1003.8 1044.4 1088.31102.6 1172.7
 Charing Cross

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Kyle Gann
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September 6-13, 2007
London, England /
Germantown, NY

Charing Cross