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"Surface" (commissioned by London Symphony Orchestra)

The goal of the research presented in "Surface" was to see if a single resonating sonic object could be created out of the normally far more disparate elements of the traditional symphony orchestra. The second goal, dependent on the first, was to investigate whether this über-instrument could draw the listener into its multi-faceted sound world.

The research process saw all the instruments being given the same musical material to perform, thus immediately challenging the conventional hierarchy of instrumental groups traditionally associated with differing musical functions, and therefore material. A second research process slowed the music and insisted on a consistently low volume. This invited the listener to focus on the detailed timbres and slowly shifting colours of the almost static sounds, and encouraged him / her to reflect on the surface of the piece as the expression of the single kaleidoscopic instrument.

But the research process employed was not designed to produce an entirely static vibrating object, for time is important to the piece in that it encourages the listener’s memory to accumulate pitch material to be viewed perhaps through the current surface lens of the music. In this way the complete object slowly emerges from a combination of present and past, constantly subject to reevaluation, just as the eye can shift its attention backwards and forwards across the surface of a visual artwork.

"Surface" was commissioned by London Symphony Orchestra as part of UBS Soundscape Pioneers. Public workshops were given at St. Luke’s Old Street. The work was premiered at the Barbican on October 8th 2009. It was broadcast on Resonance FM at 9.30pm on June 4th 2013 and June 6th 2013.