This piece is conceived as a companion to Carl Ruggles' Angels. Perhaps it would be better described as an enemy, as it is essentially its opposite in all aspects, from its instrumentation to it compositional method. Unlike the empirical approach of Ruggles, I rotate six combinatorial hexachords based around a tritone (six semitone interval) to produce the demonic number of 666 and the philosophy of the work is unsettling as opposed to serene. It was written to represent some of my feelings about the events of the year 2016. Coincidentally 2016 is the sum of 3 x 666 + (6+6+6)!
It was premiered at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts by the Birmingham Symphonic Brass on November 13th 2016, conducted by the composer.
The demonic sum of the digits of the date of performance is 33 and 3+3=6.
