My string quartet no.3 was commissioned by the Barber Institute of Arts, Birmingham for the Bozzini Quartet. The first performance was scheduled for 2020, but it was postponed because of the Covid pandemic. It was finally premiered in the Elgar Concert Hall, University of Birmingham on 10 May 2023.

The quartet is in three movements ? moving from the lyricism of the first movement to alternating blocks of material in the second to a high, simple and sustained texture in the third. In general, my work often moves back and forth between the emotional and the contemplative. Here the piece starts out still and centred, but increasingly passionate, singing lines are placed over the rocking background. The middle movement tries to hold the feelings in check but only partially succeeds. The final part is more continuously meditative. It is in fact the longest static stretch of music I have yet written. But the marking at the start of the piece is ?always singing from afar? ? for me, there is still a ghost of expressive yearning below the serene surface.