'Panta rhei - everything is in a state of flux' is the bottom line of what the Greek philosopher Heraclitus believed. 'Everything is in a continual state of flux and change' - to him, this was 'logos', rational order. It is at the interface between personal thought and archaic ritual that the four mantras for saxophone quartet have been created. In Hinduism and Buddhism, 'mantras' are sacred sentences, key messages, 'instruments of thought and speech'.

They were addressed to the deities as a...