Nocturns was written in 1990 and takes its title from one of the divisions of the old Church Office of Matins. The texts from Herrick, Lamb and anonymous medieval verse, are linked to form a fleeting anxious landscape, immediately recognizable by the habitual insomiac. This work for mixed voices, two pianos and percussion, was commissioned by Manchester Chorale, and was first performed in March 1991 at the Royal Northern College of Music.