Subtitled Before the Tryst, this sonata is in one sense a prequel to the similarly scored miniature, After the Tryst (1988). The composer explains that these and other works with Tryst in the title were inspired by a poem of the same name by the Scottish writer William Soutar (1898–1943).

I set it initially as a song for my folk group and then classicised it as Scots Song. It is a love poem in the Scots language, and I set it to sound like an old Scots folk song.

The Sonata for Violin and ...