In 2001 a dear friend, pianist Michael Bell, threw down a musical gauntlet which provoked me into writing once more. The precocious playing of one of his pupils also revealed music again to be beautiful - sometimes the simplest truths need to be re-experienced! It was as if a veil had been lifted. Fired up to write once more, there appeared a new sense of direction; "a voice", almost arriving in a single pre-formed package. Perhaps the silence had only been external...