Breaking the Ground (2003) takes its title from a seventeenth century English
variation technique, as described by Christopher Simpson in his 1659 treatise
The Division Violist. There are two interlocking variation processes in the
piece - one based on an iambic melodic line, the other on a harmonic
sequence - which occasionally interfere with one another, and the material of
each is not heard in its simplest form until the end. Breaking the Ground was
commissioned by the Warwick and Leamington Festival with funds generously
provided by West Midlands Arts. It is dedicated to Howard Skempton.