This technical commentary accompanies a portfolio of seven pieces, of which one is in two movements. The pieces use a diverse range of forces, from solo piano to full orchestra, and include solo vocal and choral music. In order of composition they are: 'The Discovery of Slowness' for chamber ensemble of ten players; 'Broadway Boogie-Woogie' for six players; 'Stars and Constellations' for solo piano; a Wind Quintet; a song, 'A Life lived', for Tenor and Piano; 'On Time' for chorus and a brass quintet; and a one-movement symphony, 'Traveller, there is no Path'. The music is notated conventionally and is written in a predominantly extended tonal idiom, although there are large sections which are clearly tonal and others where there is little sense of any key. The music contained in the portfolio attempts to absorb the influences of early twentieth-century composers, in particular Mahler and Berg, and recent, predominantly British, composers such as Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen, Mark- Anthony Turnage and James MacMillan, as well as Vagn Holmboe and Joonas Kokkonen, especially their treatment of musical material in large-scale symphonic structures. The symphony, in particular, deals with the symphonic traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and uses techniques and ideas found in the music of composers such as Robert Simpson and Michael Tippett. The pieces presented use recognisable forms and techniques from composers of the past, combining novel methods with the familiar. This stems from a desire to create music which is approachable and performable, but which builds on, extends, and sometimes subverts the traditional structures, techniques and idioms of existing music.