Spiral is the sonic representation of chaos and falling out of control. I thought about both this concept of a spiral as well as the physical image of a spiral. The music of each movement moves from start to finish without clear sections. The music is continuous, just as the spiral is continuous. Spiral represents chaos, but there is always a positive outcome to chaos and can be embraced with lots of energy and a driving force.

 

 

I. Angular Canon: The opening movement of Spiral opens with overwhelming rhythmic complexity. This form of chaos comes from the evolution of a very traditional composition technique, the canon. The complexity is tempered by a melody in fifths in the viola and cello, also aiming to convey an ancient musical texture.

 

II. The Winding Path: This movement introduces light, fragmented material that eventually cumulates into a groove that exaggerates downward chromatic motion.

 

III. Fixation: This slow movement emphasizes the struggle an artist faces when dealing with difficult circumstances. The melody of this movement occurs in the bass clarinet in a blues harmonic context. The bass clarinet increases in register throughout the movement to create an orchestrated strain to the sound.

 

IV. Spin: The final movement of Spiral creates a highly groove based texture that is contrasted by the Bb clarinet playing downward chromatic rhythmic figures that differ from the groove. Strummed violin and viola figures add life to the final tailspin of the physical spiral.