The circle of fifths progression is popularly taught in music theory classes and appears in music from the Baroque to the present. But, this post isn’t about the vanilla circle of fifths, which is I IV, viio iii, vi ii, V I in major and i iv, VII III, VI iio, V i, or in the key of C: C F, Bdim Emin, Amin Dmin, G C, and in C minor: Cmin Fmin, Bb Eb, Ab Ddim (or Neapolitan Db), G Cmin. You can read more about it here or listen to it demonstrated by the great Igudesman and Joo here.
What I want to discuss here is instead the result when you offset this classic sequence by one chord in order to yield a very similar, yet very different chord progression: in major, this would be IV viio (or V), iii vi, ii V, I -, or F G, Emin Amin, Dmin G, C -. At first glance, this looks exactly the same as before, but the commas are there for a reason: the “parsing” of the dominant-to-tonic motions is completely opposite now. Instead of IV, iii, ii, and I receiving emphasis, you now have viio, vi, V, and I. This distorts the emotional perception of the same chords. And, furthermore, what arises when you substitute the dominant V for the half-diminished viio is my personal favorite “IV V iii vi” progression followed by a normal ii V I cadence.
Just like the more common circle of fifths progression, this displaced circle of fifths is extremely versatile. Just two examples should suffice to illustrate this:
Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2 in e minor, Adagio, very opening. D E, C#min F#min, Bmin E, A – over ~19 seconds. Note the beautiful tug of the 11th above each of the first chords in each pair – the G# above the D; the F# above the C#; the E above the B. These quasi-suspensions resolve downward each time. The displacement allows these moments of tension to land on the downbeat, creating Rachmaninoff’s exquisite emotional intensity. This theme was used as the refrain in Eric Carmen’s 1975 pop hit, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again.”
Atelier Iris Eternal Mana, Final Boss theme. C D, Bmin Emin, Amin D, G G7 over ~16 seconds. This progression appears as the bridge material between the A theme and the return of the introductory “chant”-style melody as the refrain. As such, Ken Nakagawa lightens the mood with the light, syncopated pitched perc in the background and halves the drum kit’s rhythmic tempo. Note the similar lead-up to the progression as compared to Rachmaninoff, with an ascending arpeggio. This is generally a practical matter because this is a downward progression. Interestingly enough, the harmonic speed of the chord progression is virtually identical to Rachmaninoff’s, but for obvious reasons, this sounds “faster.”
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