grey

When I set out east from Kyoto one morning in July to visit the city of Ōtsu, located on the coast of Japan's largest lake, Lake Biwa, I was met with an unexpected sight. The sky was completely overcast with grey clouds, which gave the view over the lake a sense of mystery as I hadn't experienced before. I later experienced a similar feeling later that day when I visited the nearby Mount Hiei, home to Enryaku-ji, a famous Buddhist temple, a feeling contributed in no small part by the thick mist surrounding the mountain and the temple. After looking back on this experience many months later, I felt that this orchestral piece had to be based on it in some way. To assist me in writing the piece, I later came up with a scenario in my head of someone walking through a thick, grey fog, not knowing where they are going, but eventually the mist clears up and a great sight is revealed before their eyes, like a lake or a temple.

Performed on March 12, 2025 for the Royal College of Music's Composers Orchestral Workshop