Susan?s Purple was written in the spring and summer of 2005 in response to a commission from Queens? College, Cambridge. With three other composers (Diana Burrell, Claudia Molitor and Amber Priestley) I was invited to write music that would complement one of the College?s treasures, the cabinet of scientific curiosities collected by Giovanni Francesco Vigani at the beginning of the 18th century. Susan?s Purple is a response to the vivid colours of the pigments tray in Vigani?s Cabinet and particularly to the purples, favourite colour of my late wife Susan McNally (1954-2018), to whom the work is dedicated. My synesthetic response to colour is not always very strong but I immediately heard in these purples the vibrant tone of another of my muses, the cellist Anton Lukoszevieze. Susan?s Purple is a study in the rich sonorities of sustained doublestopping.

Susan?s Purple was premiered by Anton Lukoszevieze on March 18th, 2006 in the Chapel of Queens? College.