Writing for Orchestra of the City I felt it would be fitting for my piece to be inspired by stories from the City of London itself. As a result, touching on medieval London through to present day, T R A C E S - Tales from the Anechoic chamber is inspired by the true story of an influencer who, in an attempt to break a world record, spent several hours in an Anechoic chamber - a room suspended in space and possibly the quietest room in the world. Plunged in darkness, as time passed he heard an underground train, later saw rats scurrying before a woman in white appeared - all conjured from his imagination.
An unsettling and unexplainable experience I had at Bank underground station on my way to meet acoustics professor Stephen Dance at South Bank University where the Anechoic chamber is housed, strangely tied in with the discovery of this story. Through research, viewing records and maps at the London Metropolitan archives, I decided the visitor would be Sarah Whitehead - a young girl who became known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street of which sightings have been reported up to 2001.
Sarah was only 19 years old in 1811 when her beloved brother, Paul Whitehead, was found guilty of fraud at the Old Bailey and subsequently executed. In an attempt to protect his sister he made sure she was out of the area when he was arrested and left instructions that she not be told of his fate. Unaware of his death, and unsettled and upset by his sudden disappearance, Sarah continued to ask for her brother every day at the Bank of England where he had worked.
In my narrative, Sarah mistakes the influencer sitting in the darkened room as her brother.
Pre-recorded sounds, gathered from around London itself with the expert guidance of Humphrey Percival, were triggered live within the performance.
The inclusion of wineglasses in the first movement reflects the mineral ceiling and floor of the anechoic chamber, which is created from spun glass.
To premiere Traces at St. Andrews Church, Holborn proved a perfect site as I had noticed through visiting St.Andrews in the past that underground trains can be heard as they rumble far below; in addition, the lower reaches of the River Fleet, the sounds of which feature in this work, were known as the Holborn (or Oldbourne) hence how Holborn derived its name.
