Within the first five bars they play all
twelve pitch classes, some in more than one octave.
First, each measure contains exactly
twelve pitches: not twelve attacks - there are frequent two- or three-part simultaneities - but twelve different pitch classes, which turn out to form permutations of a twelve-note row.
Exact intonation within the
twelve pitch categories is not specified in the model.
What constantly astounds me is that while we have only
twelve pitches to nurture, how incredibly different they all feel depending on context, register, text, dynamic, articulation, tempo and emotion!
Given the hegemony of twelve-tone rows in Western modern classicism (favoring numerical permutations of all
twelve pitches in a scale over the concepts of major/ minor tonal harmony and melody that had been cherished since the Renaissance), a potential alliance between computers and the midcentury pencil-and-paper composer was almost innate.