Duration: 12 minutes | Composed: 2021 | Commissioned: as part of the Ed Byrne Award, Monash University | World Premiere: May 23rd 2021

2(pic).2(CA).2(bass).2(contra)/
4.2.2.1/timp/1 perc/harp/strings (min 8.8.6.6.4)

This piece is inspired by an optical illusion known as a gravity or magnetic hill, where the layout of the surrounding land makes a slight downhill slope appear to be an uphill slope. There are many of these hills around the world and this piece makes reference to four of those.

I - Essen-Werden (Germany)
II - MagnetBakken (Denmark)
III - Slievenamon (Ireland)
IV - The Road between Budești and Cavnic (Romania)

Each of the movements in this piece is like an imaginary postcard – brief but affectionate glimpses of a place sent by someone who’s thinking of you. While the sender in this instance is imaginary too, creating a ‘sound’ that belongs to a place or object is one of my absolute favourite compositional things to do.

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