Ariel is scored for basset clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and is a response to the poem of the same name by Sylvia Plath. Simpson reacted to the poem musically, jotting down the ideas for instrumental combinations, as well as the emotional content as he read the words.

The piece begins, (‘Stasis in darkness…’) and gradually wakens up to a furious outburst in all the instruments. Scales descend to the depths of the instruments’ ranges, out of which a slow, winding duet for basset clarine...