- Forces (whole work)
- 2 flutes (II doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (II doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in B♭, 2 bassoons (II doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets in B♭, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (2), strings
- Duration
- 8 minutes 21 seconds
- Difficulty
- Within reach of a good amateur orchestra
- Status
- Available
- Materials
- Conductor's score on A3 (or Tabloid) · parts on A4 (or Letter) · playback render
Programme note
Blithfield and Tittesworth reservoirs, Rudyard Lake, the Trent, the Dove.
Both reservoirs are drowned valleys: farms, lanes and whole habitats lie under them. A slow current runs through the whole movement in the low strings and never settles, because the parts are deliberately never quite together: the figures realign with the barline only every seventh bar, under a theme that is nine bars long. The cor anglais sings the theme; every return of it is re-scored and re-harmonised rather than developed. The music reaches for one note it cannot pass, three times over, and when it finally breaks through at the climax the chord underneath is in the wrong key; a major chord where the ear has spent eight minutes waiting for the minor. Nothing is resolved by it, and the movement withdraws to an ending quieter than its opening.