Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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This is Ted Hearne's explosive piece for string orchestra, "Law of Mosaics", written for and performed here by A Far Cry, a Boston-based chamber orchestra. This recording stems from the album of the same name, in which he shared with composer Andrew Norman.
Ted writes in the program notes:
"'Thomas Jefferson went through the New Testament and removed all the miracles, leaving only the teachings.' 'Meaning is a matter of adjacent data.' 'The law of mosaics: how to deal with parts in the absence of wholes.' These passages, along with many others, are appropriated from a variety of sources and arranged by David Shields into his 2010 book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. It is a patchwork treatise on art and digital culture, and is an inspiration for Law of Mosaics - a new 30-minute piece for A Far Cry.
The musical material from the first movement, Excerpts from the middle of something, is lush and climactic - but it is also a fish out of water, removed from surrounding music that might help it be better contextualized. It could follow a tense build-up, or precede a climax and resolution, but instead we hear it repeated and revised. As the material circles in on itself, it begins to make sense on its own, but never really 'goes' anywhere.
The second movement, Palindrome for Andrew Norman, is constructed entirely of samples lifted from other pieces of music. Each plays an important or climactic role in the piece from which it is lifted, but is used here as a single building block in the construction of a symmetrical (and rather arbitrary) formal structure: the palindrome. Each sample is altered from its original composition in some way: it may appear backwards, or revoiced, or as a canon with itself, but an element of its essential character is always preserved. Andrew Norman is a contemporary composer from New York whose 2010 string trio 'The Companion Guide to Rome' is heard among the many snippets of source material in this movement.
In some way, the rich history of works written for the string orchestra informs and influences every performance by every individual string orchestra active today, whether they choose to perform those works or not. Climactic moments from 'Adagio for Strings' and 'The Four Seasons,' slowed down and layered on top of one another explores what can happen when two 'staples' of the repertoire (likely to be found on a Best Classical Hits CD) are stretched out and mashed up.
The fourth movement, Beats, is derived from a song written by Philip White and Ted Hearne as part of their collaboration vocal/electronics duo R WE W WHO R WE. The explosive palette of White’s mixer feedback is used as inspiration for pushing the sonic and timbral limitations of the string orchestra.
Climactic moments from movement three, three times as slow as before is simply a reframing of music you have already heard.
The warp and woof refers to the lengthwise (warp) and crosswise (woof) threads that together create the texture and foundation of a woven fabric. It is a fitting end for a piece that imagines the framing of musical content to be as integral to the structure of a work as the way that content is framed."

COMPOSER: Ted Hearne
ENSEMBLE: A Far Cry

TRACKLIST:
0:00 - I. Excerpts from the middle of something
3:54 - II. Palindrome for Andrew Norman
12:50 - III. Climactic moments from Adagio for Strings and The Four Seasons slowed down and layered on top of one another
16:53 - IV. Beats (adapted from "The Weight" by Ted Hearne and Philip White)
22:37 - V. Climactic moments from movement three, three times as slow as before
25:27 - VI. The warp and woof

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