Incorporating Cambridge Recordings
Life Cycle
Although programmatic, the Life Cycle is perhaps one of the most experimental and abstract of my works. The opening was re-written in 2010 and describes ‘a beginning’. The music then passes through different stages – birth, the joy of life (depicted by a minimalist section), stress and finally death where the music is a mirror image of the opening followed by the ascension of the spirit. There is much use of bold rhythms with exciting passages for all sections of the orchestra. The percussion in the piece includes randomly tuned drums adding to the primitive, distant aesthetic of the work. Originally a ballet score, this piece works equally well as an orchestral tone poem.
Every bar is well conceived and the whole ‘tone poem’ is a worthy addition to the orchestral repertoire. 
— John France, music critic: British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content
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