The inspiration for the creation of this symphonic work with taped electronic sounds, originally simply titled Collages, was a sunrise seen at 30,000 feet by the composer while traveling on a flight from America to the Irish coast. Its seven movements should not be thought of as distinct but "as a sequence of Laudes corresponding to the phases of the day" (Gerhard). All the movements segue directly from one to the next without pauses. The two-minute Allegro moderato corresponds to the brilliance of the rising sun. Bright trumpets lead in a shocking orchestral chord, parts of which are sustained and reorchestrated pointillistically while a tape part produces dry, erupting, gravelly textures. The second movement, Lento, slightly under two minutes in duration, corresponding to the landing on coming back to earth, opens with a furious bang inside the piano on the strings. Mysterious waves of white noise air flow from the electronics while periodic pizzicati and dry percussion cycle, machine-like. The brass build majestic chords and one feels the might of the plane landing. In the third movement, Allegro con brio, lasting slightly over four minutes, the music expresses "man's rage and despair 'with the darkness of noon.'" (Koestler). Gear-like sounds, flapping noises, and growls seem to re-create some of the airplane noises and suggest animalistic characteristics. There are heavy accents in the orchestra that alternate with momentary static passages, and quickly rushing percussion gestures with sharp crescendos in the other instruments. Shakers and high harmonics seem to suggest the heat of noon. The fourth movement (or section), Moderato, corresponds to the "state of unconsciousness." Slow, eerie, steel-and-ice sustains underscore single low piano notes and quiet semi-melodic gestures in the winds and brass. In the fifth movement, played at Vivace tempo, "oblivion gives way to euphoria." The tape bubbles happily along, alternating with jolly string melodies that burst out in dissonant flurries. The sixth movement, Allegretto, depicts the "twinkling lights of distant cities." High pulsing harmonics in the strings are mixed with wind and fast bubbling sounds in the tape part. Ascending glissandi are surrounded by pointillistic glassy timbres in the percussion. A dramatic crescendo introduces a part for tape alone, which combines the bubbling noises with phase-shifting wind. The seventh and last movement, played Calmo, represents the "dead of night." It opens with a low tamtam roll, followed by an orchestral crescendo. High harmonics, stabs from the piano, brushes from the piano strings, and sharp but desolate chord accents from the full orchestra create the image of a vast, ultimately overwhelming, but still glorious universe. Of all of the composer's symphonies, this work is perhaps the most filled with timbral brightness.

© "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide