Turning in the Widening Gyre

Thanks to the Australian String Quartet and Andrew Ford, for the facilitation of this work.

“The Widening Gyre” is a study for string quartet, exploring 2 pitch classes.
The structure of the piece transitions through a process of dissembling the opening
material, continuing to develop the harmonic field, then returning to a variation of the
opening section- perhaps an enlightening of the original concept via the journey, or
damage due to the dissection- whichever one’s preference, and progresses much as
travelling through a gyre.
The idea of the gyre is derived from W.B.Yeats’ poem- “The Second Coming”. It is
thought of as a single vortex, cone shaped spiral, which grows and dwindles; but
progresses infinitely to and from the apex. It represents in the piece; the movement
through stability, to a growing anarchy, and then back to stability.
The work is in ternary form: A, B, A1, where the first section clearly establishes the
character of the piece. It represents the exploration of a new harmonic field for the composer, and accordingly, a new field of composition.