Still is an expression of self-contentedness and satisfaction, juxtaposed by the technical challenges of the piece. It aims to explore virtuosity through the performer's delivery of dynamics, challenging the performer to self-restraint.

Set to the poem of the same name by Elizabeth Jennings (1926-2001).

Strelitzia was written in collaboration with James Banner. It was written for solo double bass, for a performance by James Banner himself in the University of Sheffield's New Music Ensemble’s concert in April 2023.

The piece is about imitation. Like Strelitzia imitates birds of paradise, this piece is a musical presentation of wildlife in South Africa. The capabilities of the double bass are explored with purpose and excitement as contrasting melodic and textural motifs guide the piece through different sounds. My aim with this piece was to reflect the scenery around Strelitzia as if the audience members were the flowers themselves. We can hear growling, fluttering and more, all played (impressively!) on the double bass by one performer. 

The title originates from the infamous 1961 lithograph of the same name by legendary Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher. The piece contains two main repetitive phrases that are prominent throughout parts of the piece despite only coinciding at the end. The duet is a reflection on interpretation. Depending on where you focus your ear, you begin to hear something different each time. Similarly, the lithograph is an enticing piece of art, and your mind is constantly tricked into seeing something different. The timbre of the clarinet is both soothing and unnerving; depending on how you listen, you can feel calmed or irritated. Set at an aqueduct, the prominent features of the lithograph are the waterfall and the waterwheel. The waterwheel is reflected by the repetitive piano part; the waterfall by the clarinet ostinato that is heard later on. The clarinet melodies played on top of the piano are an interpretation of the paradoxical watercourse and aqueduct that starts at the waterwheel finishing at the waterfall.