300+ Microvariations on a Bach Theme

While not achieving their initial goal, countless experiments by alchemists paved the way for modern chemistry. One of the beliefs that the alchemists had is that they could obtain noble metals like gold and silver through chemical operations of natural elements. After centuries, it turned out to be true, but not really. Everything on Earth, theoretically, are known to be comprised of  subatomic particles such as proton, electron, and neutron (or even smaller ones like quarks, leptons, and bosons). One might decompose something into the particles and reassemble them to create something totally new, through impractically demanding and costing processes.

Here is a composer, who pays attention to the similarity between two concepts: musical motive and molecule. It is random that the page of J.S.Bach's famous C Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier is open on the table in front of the composer. From the first eight notes of the piece, the musical alchemist creates a wide variety of products: patterns that are very similar to the original motive, gestures that are somewhat far from the original, and even some quotations of other composers including Debussy, Grisey, and so on (it may add extra fun to find which pieces are quoted). Enjoy!!

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