The title of this work was suggested by the spreading tone-clusters of the beginning. It also refers to the fact that rhythms, intervals, dynamics, and instrumentation are all subjected to various procedures of expansion and contraction. The entire piece is developed from the material presented in the first ten measures. From a non-technical point of view, the title seems also appropriate since the piece was conceived, not as an exercise in technique, but as a musical statement capable of involving the listener's emotions and imagination purely as a work of art.