Threshold | Loch Insh

A Temporal Composition

Threshold : is a temporal musical composition based on a field recording captured on the frozen shore of Loch Insh, just outside Kincraig in the Scottish Highlands, at the threshold between years (2025 → 2026).

Starting at one minute to midnight, the original recording captures this ephemeral moment in real time: distant voices counting down to midnight across the loch, fireworks echoing through the valley, geese startled into flight, wind and sleet sweeping across the ice, and the resonant cracking of the frozen surface beneath the microphone. 

With the interactive multi channel mix to the right, you can explore using the mouse, revealing the underlying raw field recording that the piece is based around (outer edges) and even electromagnetic impulses of the digital clock in the bottom right that denotes the passage of time. 

The composition uses an aleatoric heterophonic structure where multiple instrumental voices interpret the same melodic material at different speeds and directions, creating sustained tension that mirrors the liminal quality of the midnight threshold. Musical material is derived from the ice's own resonance frequency (used as the root note), while melodic content is drawn from the notes of Auld Lang Syne, distributed across strings, tuned percussion, choir, and tape processed vocals.