Daniel Riley - Composer

It's been a LONG minute, but I finally have some "new" old music available for listening on my SoundCloud page! (Link available at https://on.soundcloud.com/hPKRZFVqweaQ8C9VA)

Turning, symphonic outtake for orchestra after poetry by W. B. Yeats (2017)

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..."
- opening from "The Second Coming" (1919), W. B. Yeats

As part of my Master of Music (Composition) at the University of Melbourne, I was privileged to have the opportunity to compose an orchestral work for a workshop with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. For all its rough edges as my first orchestral composition, I'm still astonished at the raw emotional intensity that the MSO was able to capture in this recording after just one hour of rehearsal...

Turning, as implied by the title, is loosely based on W. B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming". As an allegory of post-war Europe, the poem strongly resonated for me with symphonic potential, particularly in response to the drastic geo-political shifts of 2016-17. Indeed, out of an omnipresent two-note oscillation based on the opening word ("turning"), the music gradually builds in impending doom towards an appropriately apocalyptic climax.

In the years since, Turning would take on a completely different personal meaning for myself in response to the 2020-21 COVID pandemic, and the consequent Melbourne lockdowns. (Yeats' poem was also written in the shadow of the 1918-19 Spanish Flu pandemic.) It's probably the most raw and honest music I've ever written, and remains a source of personal satisfaction, even if Turning is unlikely to ever receive a live premiere performance in concert as of March 2025.

I hope this recording encourages you to revisit Yeats' poem, as well as reflect on the poem's themes in relation to the increasingly dysfunctional and fractured world we currently find ourselves in. Finally, if you enjoyed this recording, please let me know and/or share it with other friends and musicians.

Daniel Riley
Canmore, Canada
March 3 2025

Image artwork: (2021)