Symphonic Reflections is scored for two soloists (soprano and baritone) and a large orchestra. It is the most recent in a long line of collaborative works with the poet Michael Harlow

I asked Michael Harlow for phrases which describe the mood of each of his texts. These are shown in red.

The nine Harlow texts are grouped in threes making three movements. The texts themselves are as the title suggests, reflective, thoughtful about everyday situations. If there is a common theme it is the feeling of wonder. This feeling is often accompanied in the music by a sequence of chords with strings, harp, piano and crotales which serves as an “idée fixe” throughout the work. This theme is heard for the first time at the end of the first song: bars 67 to 74, p. 14

"This is called the holiness of attention."

The "swarms of angels" in Text 3 inspired me to make the following "swarms of triangles":

Made with a "Basic" program. The background shows a framework of bars in 4/4 time. The triangles show starting times and durations (all determined by chance) of instruments. The numbers (1 to 12, also chosen according to a chance system) are for translating into pitches.

This information was used several times during the work but notably in the introduction to the third text (movement 1).

Here are the computer sounds for the three movements, followed by the Full Score, Parts and the Piano Score (for rehearsing with the soloists)