Opening of Tide

I’ve just listened to the playback of the whole of the 4^th movement for the first time. Yesterday morning, only the middle section was complete. The rest was in fragments like a broken pot on the floor. There was some nice material and I had the structure mapped out in my notebook. The middle section rises through the modes. The final section settles back down returning to a triumphant D mixolydian. It’s an epic ending, founded on the big tune slowed down in the bass, with the ancient Irish melody dancing over the top, while all the other material flurries around in ecstatic joy. What started as sublime peace at low tide (just the haunting ancient Irish melody), grows in a frenzy at mid tide, getting ever stronger until the majestic finale full to the brim at high tide.  

The shape of this 4^th movement, Tide, has been in my head for several weeks now, initially very hazy, with little detail. The ancient Irish melody appeared on cue after playing in Vaughan Williams’ 2^nd and 5^th symphonies and feeling once again the power of modes and the power of the sea. The big tune came to me a couple of weeks later while having time out from shopping. I was parked on the sad persons’ bench by the tills at Waitrose, lost in my symphony world, and so the big tune appeared in my notebook. It didn’t take long then for that to climb through the modes to created a middle section that surges relentlessly to the finale. 

The composing process is all engrossing. I have been in another world for two days, emerging for much needed respite in the form of food, conversation and most of all sleep. Now I am tired but buzzing with this in my head. 

Opening of Tide, ancient Irish melody plus mirror inversion.mp3