Commissioned by Aarhus kammerorkester with support from Statens Kunstfond and Koda Kultur

With En Dansk Symfoni, I was invited to write a symphony as a companion to Mendelssohn’s 3rd, the “Scottish”. In the 3rd symphony, we hear Mendelssohn’s impressions of a European’s time in Scotland. As a composer from England, having spent years living and studying in Glasgow, and now having lived in Denmark for over 5 years, my understanding is that during the process of writing this orchestral piece, I should have come closer to finding out what Danish-ness means to me, as a cultural onlooker, an ‘outsider’, perhaps as a composer who might have something to say that challenges ideas about Danish national identity. I can’t honestly say that I’ve come to any grand conclusions, but I have found it enriching and fruitful to consider some of the cultural, social, linguistic, urban and sonic differences and similarities, both subtle and jarring, between the country I grew up in and the country I now call home.

The four movements contain musings on language learning, run-ins with governmental bodies, hold-music, falling in love with a Dane, the quotidian sounds and spaces that surround my neighbourhood, and a pooling of the voices of ex-pat members of the orchestra who generously shared their own reflections on what it means to live in Denmark as foreigners.

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity." – Ludwig Wittgenstein