The Lake of Time

This is the first piece ever written for marimba and theorbo. The marimba is one of the oldest melodic instruments and the theorbo is a historical instrument trapped in time. With this in mind, I decided to write a piece that deals directly with time – musical time, historical time, timelessness.

In particular, I wanted to explore the idea that time might not be linear or even cyclical, but trapped, static – like a lake. The urban dictionary refers to “lake time” as “the absence of knowledge of time at the lake. It is when your activities aren’t driven by the clock, but rather by bodily functions and wants.” The titles for the piece and the movements all come from names of oceans of the moon.

Sea of Tranquillity begins calmly and freely, contrasting sharply with the groove-based and urgent Ocean of Storms which follows. Bay of Rainbows is a sonic mobile, various musical objects circle round each other – always similar, but never the same. The piece lasts about 9 minutes. The Lake of Time was commissioned by Chiltern Arts for Dame Evelyn Glennie and Matthew Wadsworth. The first performance took place on 5th March 2020 at the Chiltern Arts Festival, UK