Edinburgh Napier University

  “Water, reflected…” was composed in 2004 and is the third movement of a five-movement work for orchestra, a research project linking musical composition to architectural design, in particular that of the Chrysler Building. All five movements can be performed separately as independent works or together under the title “The Chrysler Cycle”. While on a research trip to New York I assembled a portfolio of photographs of the building, including a series in which its reflection is captured in the exterior glass panels of a nearby building. These photographs, which present various distorted images of the building, have proved a source of inspiration in all five movements; the photograph used in “water, reflected…” suggests a reflecting surface of water. Vaious textures employed throughout the work hint at this reference to water, the opening vibrato section and concluding trilling passages, both intended as allusions to the flow of water and the additional ripples produced when its surface is disturbed. Some of the pitch material was informed by various statistical data from the building, translating numbers into frequencies.

The compositional research, at its various stages, received support from:

Grant from the Kerr-Fry Bequest Committee of the University of Edinburgh to undertake studies in photography at the New School University, New York (2005).

Additional AHRC (formerly AHRB) grant to undertake research in New York (2004).

AHRC (formerly AHRB) scholarship to undertake PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Small Projects Grant from the University of Edinburgh Development Trust to cover travel costs to undertake preparatory research in the US as part of the PhD programme (2003).