A Reflection of Ida is a short piece of ballet music. It was inspired by the 1914 story of a father writing a page of ballet music for his 6 year-old daughter to dance to at home, shortly before he went to fight in the First World War.

The original score was kept for three generations but then lost. I was commissioned to write a single sheet of hand written music, reflecting the original score, and in a ballet style to honour the memory of the original.

After composing the piano score, I wanted to show what it would sound like if orchestrated and so used midi sounds to produce an orchestrated version. This brings the music to life, and, for me, further embodies the image of the young girl twirling and dancing freely to the music.

The piece is in a simple ternary structure, and draws from the styles of late Romantic composers such as Gurlitt, Lyadov, Grieg and Stanford.