Playing parts of Philip Jameson’s string quartet Black Rapids is as difficult as tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. That analogy came up a couple of times at an open rehearsal for the piece on Sunday at Musica Viva’s boardroom in Sydney. Metronomes were out, mathematical calculations made, strategies were worked out on how to keep the whole thing from going off the rails. The piece, it turns out, is as terrifying for the players as those black rapids of the title. The strong and lovely stillness, the crazed rush towards a quiet spot, the danger lurking in the depths – you can hear it all. But it’s a title that came after Phil had finished the score as a way of helping listeners find their way into it – the same as Copland with Appalachian Spring, who was thinking of Martha Graham’s dancing, not of pastoral scenes, when he was writing it.

Being part of a new piece, to me, is a massive privilege. The Silo Collective came about after I’d heard Julian Burnside’s Peggy Glanville-Hicks address – it resonated with me when he said that if no one commissioned music now there would be a gap in our culture, and even more so when he suggested that if you couldn’t afford to do it yourself, get a bunch of people together to pool resources. Silo is a completely fluid entity – people come in and out on a commission-by-commission basis. A few of us are at Huntington to hear the premiere tonight; some of us were at the open rehearsal on Sunday, others weren’t. That’s the first time we’d had any idea of the piece; we don’t talk to the composer about it at all before then. That’s up to the musical organisation involved; in this case, Musica Viva, and in particular Carl Vine. We knew it was a string quartet by Philip Jameson, but that’s it. We feel no less involved, I’m sure, than we would do if we had progress reports all the way along. For me, the anticipation is a bit like being a kid at Christmas – I count down the hours until I hear it for the first time. But, unlike being a kid, whether I like it or not is beside the point (I do, in fact, like it very much) – the piece is not about me or the Silo Collective, we’re just there as a necessary part of the process. Artists can paint pictures and sell them; writers can write novels and have them published, but music is different. Composers wouldn’t be paid unless someone was prepared to commission them.

Today I’m counting down the hours until the premiere; Cathy Gray, who was there at the open rehearsal and is at Huntington “is filled with anticipation. I feel for all those involved and how significant it is for them. I know they’re all consummate professionals and it will be amazing, but given the insight we had at the rehearsal, it’s a complex and exciting piece with so much going on. It’s a credit to their musicianship that they’re wrestling with this completely new piece of music.”

She’s heard more of it than Carl Vine. “The only thing I had to worry about was that it was about the right length. Other than that, I didn’t want to know – it’s not a matter of being lazy, it’s that I want to be surprised. I’m confident Phil is going to surprise me.”

For Phil, who’s over from his studies at Yale University for the premiere, “it’s always strange” to hear a piece for the first time. “You have to come up with an extremely detailed representation of the thing, and by that I mean the score, before it explodes into life. My friends and family have been dealing with months of my grumpiness, my muttering and mumbling, and now they’ll get to hear it.” He says he feels honoured to be part of the Huntington Festival and is “extremely grateful to Carl for the trust he put in me – it was a huge leap of faith for him”. He has enormous faith in the Enigma Quartet: “I’m feeling pretty relaxed about tonight – the quartet are so responsive and so good. It’s such a technically demanding piece, and I’m very impressed at how they’ve worked with it. They’ve gradually stopped worrying about it and have now started to enjoy it – I hope that comes across.” Not that he’ll be watching tonight’s performance – he’ll be there “but I usually close my eyes and try to seal myself off from everyone. I’m too scared to try to read people’s faces – I much prefer the second to the first performance.”

For Enigma Quartet first violin Marianne Broadfoot, “we’re feeling pretty excited and nervous and there’s a huge sense of anticipation. We had a great rehearsal yesterday and it feels as if it’s coming together – it’s been a process and a journey to get to this point. We have to rely on the preparation we’ve done and maybe say a little prayer.”