Dedicated to Peter Maxwell Davies, whose own engagement with Medieval and Tudor music was so influential to Knussen's generation, this characterful 10-minute work for antiphonically divided chamber orchestra is bookended by two elegant, jewel-like arrangements of sixteenth-century puzzle canons attributed to John Lloyd. In between, two short variation movements see Knussen exploring the same musical material in his own inimitable voice.
'. . .a stunning palette of orchestral colour'
The Independent (Michael John White), 1 April 1988