I met clarinetist Heather Roche, several times over the past number of years, and I was especially happy to hear her play in London at a concert by Principal Sound. It was then that I decided to write this piece for her. Blackwing doesn’t refer to birds – it’s actually the name of the kind of pencil I use when composing – but the work does have a kind of slightly supple and irregular motion like a feather in the air…