The gestation period for this orchestral piece was lengthy - the first sketches date back to 1983 and the last bars were completed shortly before the première a decade later. As this period progressed my ideas for the type of piece I wanted to write gradually crystallised - this process involved the invention of a new technical approach as well as the rejection of certain concepts very much tied to my earlier works. Above all I wanted the music to flow with considerable agility, the material evo...