‘downbeats’ for the tabla, durations of ‘jawal’ and ‘sawab’ phrases; possibly the use of mnemonics such as ‘ti’, ‘ga’ etc. for single strokes. I did not have an opportunity to work with the tabla player as I had with the sitarist. This proved to be a mistake, though one, which was overcome satisfactorily. Namely, he was taught the part by rote by the director! It was self-evident he was not at home being conducted (except indirectly by the sitar player). Subsequent performances elaborated the part, giving him more freedom. Although later performances are quite far from the notation originally used they were consistent and did not vary very much. This was possible through the preservation of clear downbeats within the overall phrase structure.

I wanted to create a piece in which no attempt was made to legislate the two pairs of acoustic instruments (essentially the two traditions) into an uneasy alliance which would constrain them. They should stand side by side and interact, sometimes together, sometimes apart.

The most important mediation element would be the electronics. I decided to use sampled sounds; I intended to emphasise the hidden (and intensely rich) sound worlds of all the instruments, revealing common sound-types. In addition the use of live electronic modulation is simply used to bring the instruments together into this varied landscape.

I wanted to avoid a pastiche. To this end, I built into the scheme the rag structure without either slavish adherence or overtimitation. I designed a piece in which a rag was chosen and a short version played (or its gat at least) with a musical commentary, which was mobile enough to accommodate varying performance lengths. Ideally, at least, the rag chosen could vary from performance to performance; the one the two players chose for this version was rag Hori Kafi : in fact based around a song from the Hori Festival and in that Kafi – a scale basically similar to the Western Dorian minor. No other versions have been created. I chose a D tonic producing a bright sound on the sitar and corresponding to an open string on the cello.

The ‘harmonic structure’ of Pathways is built from three chords, each constructed from members of the harmonic series (inadequately notated, of course, in Western tempered notation).

The classic rhythmic cycle of Indian music, the tal, is strict – perhaps too strict for my feelings for this work. It is preserved in its proper context of the rag of the third movement, but either side of this it is not used. The relatively free tempo of the alap however fascinated me; I wanted to ally its freedom to simple growth patterns, contractions, expansions and simple groupings; these I built from a scheme involving fibonacci numbers.

The samples chosen were used transposed in such a way as to reveal their complex inner life. One can contrast two pairs: a sitar sample (transposed down) growls and slowly opens up its beautiful aura of shimmering metallic harmonics; this relates nicely to the so-called sea-gull harmonics produced as the cellist runs a finger lightly down a string. Then two very contrasting sustained unchanging sounds: a cello harmonic, pure and clear; and a flute flutter tongue, used slowed down to reveal its pulsating, almost noisy, breathy sound that underpins the final movement.