Three Views of the Plan of MOYS ICOS for Orchestra
By Christopher Fulkerson
The five archetypes occupy five strata: from the bottom-most to the topmost in each chart they are Boldness, Forthcomingness, Tranquility, Elevation, and Splendor. The form and the ideas that manifest it take nine minutes to transform from Boldness and Forthcomingness into Tranquility and Elevation. The speeds are reckoned to portray a slight, but only a slight, slowing through the course of the piece, as of ripples as they lose force the farther they get from the center of a pebble falling into water. The shape can also be thought to approximate that of sound as it drifts away from a source, or of material from a central point, as in the cosmic "Big Bang."