This dazzling four-minute showpiece for large orchestra was commissioned by the Hallé Orchestra and premiered in September 1996 as part of the opening celebrations of Manchester's Bridgewater Hall. Within its modest timescale, Ades has managed to compress an astonishingly rich and exhilarating range of emotions and sonorities, many of which prefigure his astonishing Asyla.
‚A four-minute wonder which packs in more music per second than any comparable piece I know.'
The Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 2 February 2008