This exquisite work was written in 2011 and was dedicated to me. “The cross-shaped pictogram (X) denotes concepts of exchange, hospitality, partnership and ecstatic union amongst other meanings.”

Musically the piece is a folding and unfolding of phrases that criss-cross. There are two Arabic scales that are referred to in the work: Sabā, denoting emotions, and Sīkah, denoting love.This piece also played an important role in Liza Lim’s Tongue of the Invisible, a song cycle composed for the jazz pianist Uri Caine, the singer Omar Ebrahim, and Ensemble Musikfabrik that was based on the poetry of the fourteenth-century Persian mystic Hāfez.

It has been absolutely inspiring and wonderful to have had the pleasure to work and collaborate regularly with Liza Lim and to have this inspirational piece.

Peter Veale, August 2020