Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a performance by the fabulous Britten Sinfonia of a new piece of mine, alongside fantastic new music by other composers.

Written for bassoon, trumpet and celeste, Strands of Black Magic opens with formal interplay, where sharp, active objects are embedded within a viscid musical agar. The celeste stands in the centre as a miniature belfry while the bassoon and trumpet dance around it, electrifying one another; one flatlines, the other is resuscitated. The music gains elasticity, traversing various fluidities, and the ensemble breathes as a single organism. Dense counterpoint bubbles away in the final section, with particles and molecules ricocheting, colliding, bursting, dividing. Activity grinds to a halt, the music becomes a chemical suspension, and the piece ends.

The concert was followed by a recording session at the Painted Church, Cambridge, a really stunning venue whose proprietors were wonderfully enthusiastic about new music. Stay tuned for the recording, which will be released in the next few weeks.