Abstract
Evolution is a mixed media performance piece in seven movements for quadraphonic playback system and two electric guitars. Characteristics of the piece include digital editing of recorded voice; non-sensical, phonetic text; juxtaposition and integration of disparate musical and textual elements; and early music practices. The most important characteristic of the piece is the principle of evolution of musical materials. This is shown by exposing disparate elements in earlier movements, integrating them gradually until, by the final movement, those elements which dominated in previous movements have been replaced by their counterparts (i.e., musique concrete → traditional composition; phonetic text → melody; monophony → polyphony; speech → song; voice → instruments; spontaneity → craft; meaninglessness → meaningfulness).