Orfeo

Retired avant-garde composer Peter Els lives a quiet life until his home microbiology lab triggers a domestic terrorism investigation. While attempting to sequence musical patterns into the DNA of common bacteria, Els inadvertently alerts Homeland Security, forcing him into a cross-country flight. The narrative alternates between his current status as a fugitive and a chronological history of his musical evolution. It details his obsession with twentieth-century dissonance, his struggle to find meaning in serialism, and his fixation on how sound interacts with biological information.

Musicologists and readers interested in the intersection of biogenetics and aesthetics will find this technical examination of sound rewarding. The text appeals to those who enjoy dense, analytical prose regarding the physics of acoustics and the history of radical composition. Readers finish the book with a deeper understanding of musical notation as a biological code and an appreciation for the tension between artistic innovation and national security protocols. It provides a meticulous look at how human expression persists within digital and genetic storage mediums.