“Spiral Four” – performed by Andrew Fong (B flat clarinet), Tom D’Ath (E flat soprano clarinet) and Richard Shaw (bass clarinet)


Program Note

“Spiral Four” consists of modal materials gradually altering, one into another, and occasionally the root itself falling by half step. There is also an overall root movement, based through a manipulation of the chromatic cycle. The Percussive use of pitch material is constructed with different rhythmic distributions between parts that change a number of times through the piece, in various formulations. Although the second movement, in three four has unified relationships between parts, and again the final bars of the piece are unified within the meter. The movements are in 7/16, 3/4, 7/16 and 9/8.