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Ess Curve is a piece utilizing the concept of taking a standard orchestra, dividing it into two approximately equal ensembles, and pitting them against one another. Orchestra number one is a spatial ensemble; that is each player is totally free in his performance and does not try to make his playing "fit in" with any one else. He is bound to the entire sound only in that he must enter and exit and specified times and play within specified bounds. Orchestra number two, on the other hand, is traditional in that it plays specifically notated music at specific times as an ensemble. The firm-sounding measuredness of orchestra number two against the backdrop of the kaleidoscopically changing freeness of orchestra number one tends to heighten the fervor of the title concept.

Ess Curve is an apt description of the dynamic shape of the entire piece. It begins at a point in sound and rises to a peak. The sound level then drops to a low peak and finally rises again to a high peak where it ends (an "S" curve).

Orchestra one consists of pairs of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, and half the string section. Orchestra two consists of piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, contra-bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, timpani, two percussion, and half the string section. Percussion requirements include four timpani, bass drum, four bongos, four tom-toms, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, chimes, wood block, cow bell, tam-tam, crash cymbals, and set drum including snare drum, two tom-toms, bass drum, suspended cymbal, sizzle cymbal, hi-hat cymbal, cow bell, and wook block.

Ess Curve was the composer's master thesis from the University of Michigan and is dedicated to his composition teachers, Ross Lee Finney (Pulitzer Prize), Leslie Bassett (Pulitzer Prize), George Wilson, and William Albright. It received it's premier by the University of Michigan Philharmonia, Theo Alcantara, conducting, on April 19, 1973, in Hill Auditorium on the campus of The University of Michigan.

Duration 7 1/2 minutes.