This work is scored for 3 Bb Trumpets, F Horn, 2 Trombones BC, Euphonium BC and Tuba BC, and was written in 1974 specially for the premier recording of the James Shepherd Versatile Brass. It has three movements – an opening Toccata built on two contrasting ideas (the first antiphonal, the second lyrical), followed by a rather nostalgic slow movement, and finally a very fast and rhythmic dance which uses folk-like modal melodies set in ever changing time meters (a deliberate homage here to Bartok).
