Prestissimo

The open question comes down to this: is it just lazy, uninventive hack work - 12 simple variations on a tone row; using the same basic rhythmic patterns again and again, with barely a triplet to be seen and only three dotted rhythms anywhere that immediately evaporate back into plodding 4/4 predictability? Or is it a rich, complex and compact exploration of every possible 2-, 3-, and 4-voice harmonic progression - root, retrograde, inversion, and retrograde inversion - extractable from each iteration of the row, changing tonal centers and melodic variations subtly every thirty seconds like clockwork?

Probably both. A great master might choose harmonic progressions and melodies selectively from the full 48 sets available in the entire row's palette for every section and transpose them as required for each new tonal center. That would complicate the matter enormously, but also enhance the compositional freedom in every measure. A lesser (and lazier) talent like mine prefers the simplicity and structural integrity of mathematically predefining and restricting the scope of possibilities at any given moment to the bare minimum and making the best of a relatively simple - if complete and balanced - store of possibilities.

It's only a bagatelle, after all.

C-Bb-F-G-Ab-Gb-Eb-D-E-Db-B-A