Symphony No.3 was written between 2008-2010 as part of the composer's work at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

This symphony is a portrayal of two sides of human personality, represented by the two movements of the work: Up and Down. The music depicts the constant struggle to find balance in one's life, in terms of mood and relationships with other people.

Broadly speaking, Up is active, busy, vibrant in mood. Musical motifs and themes emphasise upward progressions, while the orchestration is lively and colourful. Full of blazing brass and high-pitched woodwind, Up is associated with images of the sun, and outdoors activity. Percussion play an important role rhythmically, especially the combination of log drum and tom toms. Eventually the lively character of the music loses control, leading to a riotous climax involving the percussion and full orchestra in unison. The music disintegrates into a short oasis of calm, before the movement to an end, on a bright sounding D Lydian chord.

Down, by contrast, is melancholic, slow and mournful in mood. If Up is associated with the sun, then Down is associated with Saturn. There is also reference made to Durer's famous woodcut, Melancholia (1514), in which a magic square appears. The numbers on this square are used to generate themes and ideas in this movement – the opening piccolo melody, underpinned by wispy strings, for example. A second theme, featuring tuba and bass trombone, refers to a 'tuatara' theme written by the composer in 1991, and here is ponderous in tone. Following a gradual buildup a faster section emerges, full of tension and unresolved progressions. The angry protests subside, and a mysterious passage recaps the first theme, accompanied by constantly shifting strings. Out of the depths emerges a bass clarinet, playing a bird-like theme, which is picked up by the other woodwinds in a fugue, which refers back to the earlier quick section. After a brief silence, the second theme reappears but this time in a passionate, full-blooded version that leads to a tense climax. The music searches for resolution, and eventually finds it in a lyrical coda for strings alone, to start with. Themes from earlier in the symphony are transformed, and the overall key centre, D, is hinted at but never quite reached. The chiming of a clock suggests the never-ending passing of time, and the log drum, so prominent in the first movement, returns to conclude the work.

Structurally, Up has elements of sonata form which become increasingly loose as the movement progresses. Down is symmetrical in arrangement, with the mysterious section forming the centre of the following form A-B-C-D-C-B-A (plus coda).

Symphony No.3 was recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (cond. Tecwyn Evans) and appears on A Bugle Will Do [CDACD741].