THE MAELSTRÖM is the first part of a triptych of symphonic works that take as their starting point forms, sound images, and (occasionally) verbal rhythms implied by the three selected works of Edgar Allan Poe, and transforms them into corresponding musical structures. It is based on A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM (published 1839), which describes a fisherman’s survival in a horrific whirlpool. The work follows the story’s idea of a gradual transformation of the ocean’s horizontal surface into ever accelerating and narrowing circles, with the climactic moment of almost complete silence (when the bottom of the pit [ = hell] and the moonlight [ = heavens] are simultaneously revealed), before the process is reversed. A large orchestra is deployed, consisting of triple woodwinds and brass, a large percussion section (including two drum sets and timpani), piano, harp, as well as solo string quintet and two string orchestras, thus aurally bringing to life Poe’s massive watery vortex.