At last the printed score has arrived for the trio by Huw Watkins. We’re giving the world premiere in the Wigmore Hall on November 25.

When the newly published score arrived, I already knew the notes of the piano part, because I’ve been working from an electronic PDF which I printed out on loose A4 pages. But the composer has changed some things since those early drafts. Things have gone up an octave, down an octave, or been given very detailed slurs and accents. More loud and soft markings have been added. My guesses about these were pretty good on the whole, but there are one or two places where I hadn’t realised he meant the piano to come crashing in, or go out whispering, so I’m looking afresh at these places.

 Seeing the crisply printed score has a curious effect. The mere binding together of the pages makes everything seem more fluent. I suppose I have subconsciously got used to stopping and turning over the loose leaves. The print is blacker, making the notes seem more assured. And most significantly the layout on the page has changed, so that my visual grasp of where things are on the page will have to undergo some adjustment if I’m not to glance up towards the wrong place. Passages I’m used to seeing at, say, the bottom of a page are now at the top of a page immediately after a page-turn. For some reason these alterations of position sometimes even make me perceive the content of the music in a different way.