It has become a cliché to label a new musical work minimalist and then explain at length why it really isn’t minimalist at all. Hearing the superb Calder Quartet play Kate Moore’s “Violins and Skeletons” Thursday (November 18) at UC San Diego’s Loft, I scrupulously fought off every temptation to apply that slippery adjective to her commanding 2010 commission in its first public performance (south of Carlsbad).

Lasting about a minute under an hour, without a moment’s break, “Violins and Skeletons” created a scintillating wall of sound, electronically amplified and layered with three pre-recorded clones (well, slightly variant first cousin clones) of the original piece played simultaneously through rows of speakers that lined three of the Loft walls. It was an audiophile’s nirvana.

In terms of sonic saturation, Moore has done for chamber music what Richard Strauss accomplished for the orchestra in his huge “Alpine Symphony” and Gustav Mahler in his “Symphony of a Thousand.” In a short verbal explanation just before the performance, Calder cellist Eric Byers revealed that Moore describes “Violins and Skeletons” as a “sound installation,” a term that bristles with grant-winning allure. This work was funded as a joint commission of UCSD’s ArtPower! and the Carlsbad Music Festival, where it was premiered earlier this season.

Since the long, continuous piece has no clear dividing sections, I noted changes of mood or technique by the clock. For the first 20 minutes, Moore layered reiterated short motifs—usually of modest range—from each instrument, a sonic interweave that was reinforced by the three recorded components. If you submersed yourself into this “consonant cacophony,” it created a state of meditation or at least a suspension of wandering thoughts.

In the next five minutes, the layered interweave changed to a less intense, chordal cortège that alternated triplet and quintuple groupings. At 35 minutes, the movement slowed to a radiant texture that suggested (at least to me) the sacred music of Arvo Pärt, without the Estonian composer’s dark mysticism. At 40 minutes, with Moore’s progressions growing in intensity, I valiantly attempted to suppress comparisons to the film scores of Philip Glass.

At 47 minutes, the pace slowed to a majestic set of progressions that might accompany a tranquil sunrise in a motion picture, and as “Violins and Skeletons“ drew to its close, Moore’s harmonic palette simplified, arriving in a purified and completely satisfying minor modality.

Calder’s ownership of this piece and their evident devotion to it were evident at every turn, and the stamina required to sustain the energy of this hour-long marathon is inspiring. Although amplification is a requirement of this work, it is unfortunate that such electronic alteration is not kind to Calder’s otherwise elegant sonority.

In addition to Byers, the Calder Quartet includes violinists Ben Jacobson and Andrew Bulbrook and violist Jonathan Moerschel.