In 2005 I heard a low trio for viola, cello and double bass by the composer Wolfgang Rihm (whom I subsequently studied with from 2006-2008) and I was awestruck by the sound world and driven to write my own low trio. Since then 16 years has passed, but the desire to write this work and the feeling for low, string, chamber music has never faded.

The resulting work, Five Phase Sphere presents 5 phases of music for this specific combination of instruments. The resonance of these 3 instruments together, their low frequencies and their combined musical potentials are all stimuli for each phase. Across each phase are musical links, but together, as five points of music they form a sphere of material, in my imagination.

I’m thrilled that new music champions have come together to commission this work, which will premiere in the UK at Sound Festival and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival by the extraordinary Red Note Ensemble in 2021, followed by an Australian premiere by Ask Duets in 2022.