In harmony: key or the flow?

Question

I play ambient music and my approach on creating chord lines is simple, just try to stick on the key and if I want to change the key then make it subtle. But today I tried to create harmony lines which doesn't have a center key, just using enharmonic chords. For example Chords: D -> F#m -> A -> C#m -> C# Notes: DF#A -> F#AC# -> AC#E -> C#EG# -> C#FG#...And so on, it can be written forever. It sound good in my ambient context at least, because my role is to create space and not to show way (from A to B), but I want to know if I do something which has a name or theory behind it. Can music be written not by functionality (for instance: I-IV-V), but only just the motion of the notes (as my line)? I searched but I didn't find any written/spoken material about this topic. It's very interesting and I want to know more about this approach.

Answer 1

What you're describing here is triadic transformation, also known as contextual inversion. It's a technique used by contemporary classical (especially Minimalist) composers such as Philip Glass and John Adams. The theory behind it is called Neo-Riemannian.

Answer 2

I think you would be find your answer by doing a search on Atonal music.