It is fascinating how Matthews can use, almost entirely, dark and subtly shifting colours …
— David Denton, Tempo
Shadows in the Water (1978-9). Voice & piano
This setting of a poem by Thomas Traherne (1637-74) was composed between August 1978 and May 1979 as a sixty-ninth birthday present for Peter Pears, who, with Steuart Bedford, gave the first performance at the 1980 Aldeburgh Festival.