The Tone is a stereo tape piece exploring the implications of the following text by Oswald Jonas, a disciple of Heinrich Schenker:

Ohne Assoziation zur äußeren Formenwelt, ohne Zweck, - birgt der Ton nur die Vorstellungen des Tones selbst. Die rein gefühlsmäßigen Auslösungen, die er bei dem Einzelnen hervorruft, sind so unbestimmter Natur oder doch so verschieden, daß niemals Ursache und Wirkung eindeutig aufeinander abgestimmt werden können oder daß von hier aus ein bewußte Gestaltung möglich wäre.  (Jonas, Einfuhrung in Das Lehre Heinrich Schenkers. Revised edition © 1972 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien/UE26202. Used by permission.)

Lacking any association with the outer, spatial world, lacking purpose, the tone conjures up only the tone itself. The purely emotional reactions it evokes in the individual are of so vague a nature and yet so varied that cause and effect could never be unequivocally related to one another. A conscious creative process could not be based on this.  (Translation: John Rothgeb)

A recording of the German text serves as the primary sound source, but I don’t entirely believe Jonas that the tone by itself is unsuited to the communication of artistic meaning. In fact, certain pieces by Elliott Carter, Giacinto Scelsi, and John Oswald (among others) strongly suggest the opposite. Thus much of this piece consists of colouristic and rhythmic variations of a single pitch, and the text is used only in the background. A sine tone - the most timbrally simple kind of tone, and, as a sound only producible through electronic means, the least connected to a ‘real’ outer world - begins the piece and marks its middle and end points. In between, the tone gives rise to its own intimate and intriguing inner world.

This piece was premiered in June 2006 in a workshop and concert held by the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop with Gustav Ciamaga.