Five glances through glass horses

percussion, harpsichord, historical strings

2024

duration: 8' 30"

I: Weaving and spiralling

II: Constantly flowing, intense

III: Like bells ringing

IV: Adagio hymn

V: All previous movements coagulating

This piece was first premiered on the 24th of April 2024 at the Royal College of Music London, performed by Hoi Yin Ng (percussion), Ceci Keiffer (harpsichord), Alma Balazs (violin), Katharine Wing (viola), and Alex Boyd-Bench and Tom Wilson (bass viols), conducted by Asher Joyce.

This piece was originally written for the Wolfson Centre project at the Royal College of Music, London, where composers of the college were invited to write for instruments in the museum and Wolfson Centre Archive.

The title of this piece takes inspiration from contemporary artist Rae Klein’s series Glass Pony. The paintings by Klein take the silhouette of horses, and superimposes shimmering, washed-out textures. Influenced by these textures, my piece creates similar gleaming atmospheres and dream-like settings.

Five glances takes a wide range of musical inspirations from contemporary string writing, folk music, bell ringing, and an organ work by Nicolas de Grigny, which all coalesces in the final movement.