National Gallery
A work commissioned by the National Gallery, this piece, written for string quartet, serves as the backdrop to the painting Whistlejacket by George Stubbs, situated in the main gallery. With a strong emphasis on the theme of ‘time’, the piece was recorded at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and performed live at the National Gallery by Guildhall Session Orchestra members.
Whistlejacket represents both the primal and spiritual aspects of the living – a very realistic, life-sized horse, portrayed with stunning accuracy, but also the internal essence of freedom, as alluded to by the purposefully sparse background and the fact that the horse is deliberately riderless.
This piece conveys these aspects through the filter of time, presenting the painting as seen from our eyes, grand and spectacular, followed by the momentary movements of the racehorse as it comes to life, and finally, reflections hinting at the owner’s strong affection for Whistlejacket and his desire to capture him as an eternal memory.