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Phaedrus is a three movement concerto for piano and orchestra, based on Robert Pirsig's cult novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The first movement is a dialogue between the soloist (with his partners the string section) in dialogue and conflict with three other groups of instruments, each with its own percussion player. These groups are physically separated, giving the piece a real spatial element. In the book, the motorcyclist is a university philosophy teacher, driving across the USA with his youg son and thinking about the promblems of contemporary life. He becomes haunted with Schubert's famous song The Erl King, in which a horseman and his son are pursued by a demon who wants to possess the son's soul. The relentless triplets of Schubert's setting permeate the musical structure.
