Water Spirit Song is part of a suite extracted from Koto Dreaming, a music theatre work featuring the Japanese Butoh Dancer Yumi Umiumare commissioned by David Walker especially for the 2003 Asian Music and Dance Festival held in the Studio of the Sydney Opera House. Koto Dreaming is dedicated to the koto player Satsuki Odamura, who has The original dance was accompanied by an ensemble of Asian and European instruments including shakuhachi, cor anglais, koto, darbukka and cello. Water Spirit Song is performed twice in the original work: by the cello (accompanied by a recorded waterfall) and later, offstage, by the cor anglais.

Languorous and atmospheric, Water Spirit Song exists in versions for cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone and cello.

R.E.