Spiral

Song facts

“Spiral” is a piece of classical music written by Paul McCartney and released in 1999 on Working Classical. From the liner notes of the album:

In comparison, Spiral is more impressionistic, much of it (despite some imposing climaxes along the way) heard as though through a heat haze. The haunting opening, featuring a solo flute memorably underpinned by a sustained chord in the strings, gradually fills out until the announcement of a little descending motif (B-A-G-E), which becomes increasingly important. The emergence of a string quartet from the orchestral texture momentarily threatens to destabilise the tonality, until the solo flute gently soothes the music’s troubled surface.

Last updated on May 13, 2018