ABSTRACT
Wood's music is characterized by its all-pervasive thematicism: for him, this represents 'the surest, most human means of communication'. This fundamental tenet conditions the nature of his musical material. Wood's melodies may leap and swoop over many octaves, making great demands on performer and listener alike, but all of his melodies have a carefully wrought and distinctive shape that enables their recognition on their return and through their transformations. The division of a twelve-note row into a series of mutually exclusive cells, which can then be used melodically, harmonically, or both, is one of Wood's most characteristic methods of manipulating his material. As with his melodic writing, Wood's harmonic language is characterized by its eclecticism and allusiveness. Whilst acknowledging this diversity, many commentators, and, indeed, Wood himself, have drawn attention to the highly chromatic nature of much of his music. A great deal of Wood's melodic writing employs twelve-note material: similarly, his harmonic language often tends towards chromatic saturation.
