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Water Music source to sea is a musical imagining of the journey taken by a raindrop as it travels along Scotland’s waterways. Field recordings, new commissions and existing works by Bach and contemporary classical and folk composers combine, creating a sonic immersion in one of Scotland’s most iconic natural resources. Beka Globe's bold photography forms a visual backdrop to the performance.

 

Water Music aims to catch and contribute to the momentum of Visit Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters and COP 26 in Glasgow.

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RAIN

Water Droplets                                Jean Sibelius 

Invention 6                                      J.S Bach 

End of Rain and Clear Sky             Alastair Savage

 

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RIVERS & LOCHS

Clōta’s Song (new commission)      Lisa Robertson

The Burn (new commission)            Timothy Cooper

Lochbroom (new commission)        Mairearad Green

Invention 4                                       J.S. Bach

The Trows o’ Truggles Water

& Clubbi Shuns                               Chris Stout

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SEA

The Estuary (new commission)       Timothy Cooper

Reclaiming the Spirit (excerpt)       Sarah Hopkins

Souch o’ da Laebrack                    Chris Stout

the ebb (new commission)             Stuart MacRae

Invention 13                                    J.S Bach

The Waves (new commission)        Timothy Cooper

Fisherman’s Prayer                         Chris Stout

Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude               J. S Bach

Changeless and the changed       David Fennessy

Whale, Bow, Echo                          Alex South & Sequoia

 

​Epilogue

Invention 7                                     J.S Bach

Dynröst                                          Chris Stout

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Programme Notes  

 

End of Rain/Clear Sky                                  Alastair Savage

Looking over to Arran from Ardrossan after the rain.

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Clōta’s Song                                                 Lisa Robertson

The River Clyde’s name is thought to have derived from the name of a Celtic river goddess called ‘the great cleanser’. The Roman historian Tacitus first recorded the name of the river as Clōta. It is assumed that Clōta’s characteristics matched those of the river and that, embodied in the Clyde, she washed and purified the land she flowed over. However, this river, once worshipped as a goddess of purifcation has now become heavily polluted with plastic, which it has no choice but to carry to the sea. I wonder what Clōta herself would have to say about that.

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The Trows o' Truggles Water                        Chris Stout

On an overnight fishing trip Chris camped near the hill loch Truggles Water. Awoken by a scrufflin' outside the tent he felt sure it was the Trows (mythical hill folk that inhabit Shetland) and was inspired to write this tune.

 

Clubbi Shuns                                                 Chris Stout

Clubbi Shuns is a charming little loch in the north mainland of Shetland (where the trout are known for putting up a good fight!)

 

Reclaiming the Spirit (excerpt)                      Sarah Hopkins

Opening section: Seagulls and earth drones

 

Souch o' da Laebrack                                    Chris Stout

Laebrack is the Shetland term for surf; souch describes the sound of its retreat, just like a deep breath.

 

the ebb                                                           Stuart MacRae

the ebb imagines the sea from a variety of perspectives and scales: from the violent turbulence and spray of the surface through the coming and going of wave-like forms, to a more distant view of its vastness and the deceptive appearance of stillness.

 

 

Fisherman’s Prayer                                           Chris Stout

This melody is inspired by the sentiment of the traditional Shetland tune Auld Swaara which mourns the loss of fisherman at sea.

 

The Changeless and the changed                    David Fennessy

This work portrays the remote isolation of St Kilda, a rocky archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Inhabited for at least 4000 years, the final islanders were evacuated in 1930.
 

Whale, Bow, Echo                                             Alex South with Sequoia

Violin, cello and Fixed Media, Humpback Whale (recorded off Mo’orea 25.09.2019)

Whale, Bow, Echo takes its form from three themes sung by a humpback whale off the island of Mo’orea, French Polynesia, in September 2019 and translated into the musical gestures of violin and cello. The live instruments are placed in an imagined oceanic environment where their phrases reverberate and resonate, building up in waves determined by the slow tempo of the humpback’s song.

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Dynröst                                                               Chris Stout

The Roost is a stretch of water that lies between Sumburgh Head and Fair Isle in Shetland

 

The Burn, The Estuary and The Waves are all field recordings by Timothy Cooper.

He sourced the sounds at the following Scottish locations: 

Lowther Hills- The Burn
The Clyde Estuary at Blackwater Bay- The Estuary
Belhaven Beach- The Waves

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