[1] The work is scored for an orchestra comprising four flutes, three oboes, four clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussionists, harp, piano, and strings.

[1] Reviewing the world premiere, Andrew Clements of The Guardian wrote, "Inspired by a poem by the surrealist Dora Maar, Bray's piece is a scherzo whose energy seems at first unfocused, but which gradually coalesces into stomping rhythms and a massive climax, before retracing its harmonic steps to where it all began.

"[2] Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times also lauded the piece, saying it "managed the difficult feat of evoking ceaseless motion without feeling driven: It gave a sense of pulsating in place.

"[4] Richard Whitehouse of Gramophone wrote, "At the Speed of Stillness unfolds over an expansive orchestral canvas – the paradox of motion within stasis (whether in the written word or in physical power-lines) underlying a piece whose highly diverse textures outline an expressive progression left tantalisingly in abeyance at the close.

"[5] Eric C. Simpsons of the Boston Classical Review was somewhat more critical, writing, "Bray's work has a good deal of sonic variety, though its purpose is hard to divine.