As with Body Alive With Signals, my 2017 work for low flutes, Masked Figures is first
and foremost rhythmic in nature. The parts function as percussion as much as orchestral voices. Therefore, emphasis must be placed on a strong sense of relentless time: playing on the front part of the beat, and not slightly behind (as in orchestral practice). Particularly in the fast outer sections of this three-part structure, an
accented attack overall is required more than is perhaps usual.

One unifying element of the work is the composite rhythm first heard in the basses and contrabass in bar 3, and then again in a modified and expanded form at 97. In each instance, it resembles a 5/16 cross-rhythm in altering ways, each time obscuring the prevailing quarter note pulse (hence the musical reference in the title Masked
Figures).