The title ‘quicksilver’ is another term for ‘mercury’ which I chose because of its silvery colour and intense, fast motion.  This piece is also partly inspired by the flashy reflection of lights from different schools of silver fish undersea, in particular their sudden change of directions and speeds when interrupted by another school of fish.  In general, Quicksilver Swirls can be divided into three main sections, roughly fast-slow-fast.  Each of the sections is also ‘interrupted’ by music of a different character. Some of the expression markings in this piece suggest different characters of the silver colour, such as ‘sparkle’, ‘swift shining’, ‘silver-gray’, ‘flashy’, ‘silvery’, ‘plain silver’, ‘shimmer’, and ‘glitter’.

Quicksilver Swirls is commissioned by Wing-Sie Yip and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and was sponsored by the CASH Music Fund in 2006. This piece was selected to be included in Orchestral Masters Vol. 1 on Ablaze Records (USA). The recording was performed by Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Mikel Toms in 2013. (Available for purchase at here or Amazon)