The live electronic modulation (produced on a Yamaha DMP7 or equivalent) had two functions, presence and landscape (the two are actually related).

To summarise the salient features of the work:

Movement 1: The sitar elaborates around pitch centres; the tablas play short ‘warm up’ phrases; the keyboard plays a slowed down sitar sample.

Movement 2: The emergence of melody: alap of the rag; the Western instruments appear to link to the that the tabla part has here been completely recomposed by the performer.

Movement 3: The gat: the flute, cello and synth/sampler (playing a transposed sustained cello harmonic) fulfil the function of a strangely transformed tambura; their function is drone. In this movement they are asked to stay at fixed tempo throughout, independent of the accelerating rag a version of which was constructed lasting about 8 minutes. The Indian instrument players were (surprisingly) used to setting time limits on their creativity and the coordination of the conclusion was remarkable, considering the two layers (Western and Indian) are not at all coordinated in tempo.

Movement 4: Apotheosis: of course, nothing normally follows the final dramatic gesture of the gat. So this is a coda in the Western sense. It is probably the nearest the instrumental traditions come: flute and sitar follow each other closely, tabla plays a punctuating role marking out the passing of time slowing steadily down to the final strokes of the work.

3.2.  Points Trilogy

Points of Departure for harpsichord and live electronics was commissioned by Jane Chapman in1993 with funds from South West Arts, and was first performed at the Dartington International Summer School that year. It is the first part of the trilogy and is followed by the tape piece Points of Continuation (commissioned by the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges) and Points of Return composed for the kayagum player Inok Paek, with live electronics. The trilogy was premiered at the Nutida Musikdager in Malmš in October1998.

The initial motivation that I had for writing this piece was in 1991 after hearing a recital given by Jane Chapman at the Purcell Room, London, which contained a variety of contemporary works. A key thought in my mind was that the strange nature of the sound of the harpsichord with its sharp attack and fast decay was something that the composers were struggling against, trying to confront the issue of extending the sound through contemporary techniques such as the use of clusters, ideas of extension and articulation.

I thought there were perhaps ways to re-engage the baroque aesthetic. Composers from the baroque had attempted to solve this problem through florid decoration, and a lyrical and melodic ideal that had been relatively under-used in the contemporary works I had heard. There were exceptions such as pieces from the minimalist tradition which had a sustaining repetition but not a lyricism. I wanted to reforge musical ideas from the baroque into a contemporary idiom. The initial inspiration for the piece was to see the harpsichord as simultaneously a historic