The Phoenix is the legendary bird that is reborn from the ashes of its own demise. In this cyclic existence, when the Phoenix dies, it bursts into flames and is reduced to embers from which a new Phoenix is born.

There is a background to the story of this version of Phoenix that was written especially for Lynn and Alexander. The original score was for the Nexus Percussion Ensemble and Lynn but the imbalance in volume between five percussion instruments and a violin required the violin to be miked. Unfortunately, in the performance the shoulder rest and the microphone fell off the violin with only enough time to retrieve the shoulder rest. This was the catalyst to reduce the accompanying instruments first to just three, which was marred by banging pipes in the steam heated hall adding inadvertently to the percussion, and finally the ideal combination of violin and piano.

The music opens with a piano cluster in the low register depicting the ashes remaining from the Phoenix. Tendrils of smoke drift from the ashes as the new Phoenix comes alive and in the fullness of her being, dances wildly through differing facets of her life: sensuous, sad, triumphant, until in a frenzy, she will again self immolate.