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It’s hardly surprising that the inspiration for My Holy Place came from holy places – churches and mountains.   10 days ago, I sat here in the Church of S. Nicolas, Brussels and wrote the nuggets of My Holy Place in my notebook. Now, I sit here listening to the whole piece. I am surrounded by beautiful images, light dancing on gilt, candles flickering with hope, arches embracing the eternal. And I am listening to My Holy Place. I am transported. I don’t know where this music

This is the year when I release my debut albums as a composer. They should come out ‘when I’m 64’! How about that for a late developer?  You can view my short announcement here on YouTube

Friday, the 2 nd of January 2026  #notebook #Tide #SeaSymphony #SciathlúireachMhuire  It’s been fun looking back at my notebooks and seeing the emergence of Tide, the 4 th movement of the Sea Symphony. It started as a harmonic shape, rooted on a pedal D. That was one of those moments when I woke in the middle of the night (3am on 3 rd September, to be precise) and had to write down the sketches. I have a miniature pad of manuscript paper by my bed for such emergencies.  Ne

Today, I have the job of tidying up the 4 th movement, Tide. All fifteen minutes are written. Most of it is orchestrated as the sounds in my head were mostly specific combinations of instrument. I still have to orchestrate the opening section as I didn’t have time in the moment of composition to do the full scoring.  I’ve been reflecting on the shape and scale of this last movement. It's in three section, following the architecture of the tide, starting with the calm stillne