"Although I have in the past written quite extensively for wind quintet as an accompaniment to vocal ensembles, Summer Music is my first composition expressly designed for the medium in its own right. To some extent the piece represents a preliminary exploration of the possibilities offered by the ensemble with a view to composing a more extended and ambitious wind quintet at some point in the future. 

"Summer Music was written in June and July 2024. There are three short contrasted movements, of which the last is the most extensive. I was keen to exploit on the one hand the different timbral characteristics of the instruments and on the other their margins of similarity. Writing for an ensemble marked by the highly individual character of each of the instrumental voices, I found it both challenging and intriguing to explore possibilities for blend and indeed ambiguity" - George Nicholson.