Programme Notes
This composition uses sets centred around developing upon D minor descending into tonal ambiguity, using sustained chord sections to facilitate this change with intensity. The piece starts in D minor, eventually with added an Eb acting as a D# to prepare to develop for the first non-tonal set of D# E# F# G# A B# C#. The intervals within this set are similar to the minor scale, creating smooth development into sections with less sure tonality. Following from this in a similar pattern of development, adding a B natural allowed for a change further away from the tonal start and into the next set: Db E F# G A# B C.
Moving into the final sections of the piece, the changing of sets increase in frequency, pushing and pulling the distance from standard harmony. This is achieved by changing between D minor, and new sets of D# E F G A#, getting closer to the first non tonal set, then D Eb F G A Bb returning even closer to the original key of D minor, and E F G Ab Bb returning a more tonal feel to the piece. This culminates in the final arrival back to the original key however, with a more uneasy feel than the harmony of the beginning. The development of the sets reinforces the feeling of descent and eventual uneasy arrival, as if back home but changed by the journey the music has taken. This is as one starts to associate the long sustained chords with intense change, and rhythmic sections representing uneasy exploration and mystery. These associations are exploited in the ending. The harmony arrives back to D minor but the texture thickens into sustained chords signifying intensity and change then thinning into a single D held in the violin. This fading to the original tonic but feeling much more uneasy than the start is perfect end to the journey of descent.