When I was asked to prepare a track by Aphex Twin for the London Sinfonietta in 2005 my first job was to find a suitable track. After listening to three of their albums I finally decided upon the title track from Polygon Window (Surfing On Sine Waves) as I felt that this track had chord and rhythmic elements that could be utilised in a way that would be interesting.

After all, the idea of a form that is polygonal (many sided) and refractory (window) intrigued me. I was sure from the beginning that I didn't want to make a version that simply replicated the CD track in real time. Many people could have done that and I was unconvinced that such a version would be of any real interest. My idea in developing the Aphex Twin track was to gradually morph the track into a much more complicated form. A highly complex acoustic texture and a meeting of both musical worlds was my goal.

What I hoped to achieve was a representation of the original submerged within a kaleidoscopic view of itself, becoming greater than the sum of its original parts. One early reviewer called my version of Aphex Twin "an overpowering tsunami." At the least, I hoped to create a new entity refracted through external contemporary classical music influences.

Meccanico