Water Organ helping to inspire a unique River Tweed composition

Taking to the water to rehearse for the premiere of Flux Alluvia. Picture by Phil Wilkinson.

This particular initiative is part of Connecting Threads, the cultural strand of the £25million Destination Tweed initiative.

Flux Alluvia, by Borders-based composer Greg Harradine, has been partly shaped using sensory data from artist Mark Zygadlo’s Water Organ, a sound installation and kinetic sculpture that travelled sections of the river last summer.

Part church organ and part catamaran, the Water Organ’s sensors measure the temperature, speed and turbidity of the water, as well as recording the direction of the river flow, in order to create musical sound.

Greg has used this data to influence the ebb and flow of the melody, the tempo and the keys of his composition and has combined this with his own impressions of the Tweed to create a unique collaboration between composer and the river itself.

Flux Alluvia has been written for string sextet and comprises three movements – The River Was, The River Is and The River Will Be – linked to particular stretches of the River Tweed at Peebles, Kelso and Norham in Northumberland, each of which Greg visited to take in the atmosphere before writing the piece.

As well as the river itself and the sounds of the Water Organ, his inspiration also included the age-old metaphor of a flowing river representing the passage of time.

The composition is one element of a five-year programme of creative activities organised by Connecting Threads, whose creative events, workshops, residencies and other activities are weaving cultural activity throughout the multi-faceted Destination Tweed initiative.

Flux Alluvia will be performed on Sunday, March 17, from 3pm in Kelso Old Parish Church by the Amici String Sextet, a group of professional musicians from the Scottish Borders, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow. Entry is free of charge.

Joanna Helfer, river culture animateur, Destination Tweed Connecting Threads project, said: “The combination of the data from the Water Organ and Greg’s talents as a composer have created a truly unique piece and we hope that communities from across the Tweed catchment and beyond will come along to experience the premiere of an exciting new work inspired by this very special river.”