The Master’s Influence, or Traces of Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Theoretical Principles in Bruce Mather’s Régime 11, Type A (1978)
The Canadian composer Bruce Mather met Ivan Wyschnegradsky in 1974, only a few years before Wyschnegradsky’s death. The friendship that grew between them lead to the first commercial recording of Wyschnegradsky’s music by the Mather-LePage piano duo, and then to Mather’s first microtonal work, Régime 11, Type A (1978), which was composed for two complementary pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart. This article surveys some of Wyschnegradsky’s theoretical work, looks at the relationship between the two composers, and finally offers an analysis of the opening measures of Régime 11, Type A, showing how the unfolding of non-octaviating spaces was adopted by Mather, who considers himself to this day a disciple of the Russian master.