Every spring from 1979 to 2000 I have had a stay in the Scottish highlands and have walked over a delectable selection of the mountains. In addition to musical material already captured in two other works of mine, without fail a particular six-note scale in the form of a mysterious and rather scrunchy chord has emerged from the sound of distant rushing water on the mountains, particularly as heard from the summit ridges, and it is this which forms the backbone of this nature poem. The particular chord and scale seems to be a particular feature of my Scottish Highlands experience, for rushing water in the Alps, and on Dartmoor in my current home area, has not had this particular musical effect upon me, at least with any particular vividness. This scale (effectively the octatonic scale with two missing notes that each result in a minor-third step) is implicit in parts of my 4th Symphony, and is explicit in my 5th Symphony as the basis of the main variation theme - and now it is explored in depth.
This short work is uncompromising music, with a strange repetitive tune and an almost hectoring quality created by adherence to its peculiar mode, and the presence, much of the time, of all the notes of the scale simultaneously. Within the silence is tumult, and within the tumult is silence. Listeners who themselves have walked high on the Scottish mountains will recognise the eerie alarm calls here and there of the ptarmigan (realized on the woodblock). The strange repetitive tune already referred to has about it a suggestion of walking upon wild mountain terrain - the strong 6/8 swing liberally punctuated with halting and stumbling syncopations, and gathering a strong sense of intoxication with the experience. The work is a contemplation of mountain wilderness, rugged, untamed - ennobling for those who can open to it, and no doubt abhorrent to those who cannot. Although its idiom is highly individual, this work is the counterpart in my musical output to Tapiola and Egdon Heath among the works of Jean Sibelius and Gustav Holst respectively.
