Programme Note

Waves was written in response to the idea of memory as an exploration of the experience of personal loss. The title encompasses multiple meanings corresponding to the linear progression of these experiences, such as the way memories and emotions pass through and move on, both in brief moments and over longer durations. Another understanding is the power of the sea to be a trigger for memory, a representation of which the piece begins with. Throughout the work there is a central melodic idea, first heard in the trumpets, that passes through moments of joy, depression, erraticity, breakdown and, finally, release.