Over the Rivers by Dan Stearns

This is a piece by Dan Stearns in 11-tone to the octave equal temperment.

Here is what Dan has to say:

"Over the Rivers is a piece I wrote as a personal homage to Charles Ives for the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his passing. Unfortunately it took a lot longer to complete than I hoped, over a year for two minutes of music, and the anniversary came and went. But I'm very happy with the piece and what's a date anyway; surely nothing in the larger scope of appreciating Ives' unique and timeless contributions!

Technically speaking, there's a lot going on in this piece, but I'd like to take the time to call attention to one aspect in particular. Over the Rivers is composed in 11-tone equal temperament. This tuning, and other tunings like it, are routinely mentioned by theorists as atonal or discordant tunings with little or no practical purpose. This is simply not the case,and I intentionally kept this piece on the threshold of tonality just to accentuate the unique beauty these "atonal" and "discordant" tunings can express if one takes the time to look..."

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