[2] His first major composition, the Clarinet Concerto, was performed at the Cheltenham Festival of 1954 by Gervase de Peyer with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli.

Instrumentalists have included Ruggiero Ricci, Mstislav Rostropovich, Dennis Brain, Osian Ellis, Cecil Aronowitz, Nia Harries, Roger Woodward and John Ogdon to name a few, and more recently euphonium player David Childs [ja], cellist Kathryn Price, trombonist Mark Eager and song pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen.

Hoddinott was prolific, writing symphonies, sonatas, and concertos: his style evolved over a long and distinguished career, from the neo-classicism of the Clarinet Concerto to a brand of serialism which allowed a tonal framework to the structure, combining a penchant for dark textures and brooding harmonies similar to that of another British composer, Alan Rawsthorne, with Bartokian arch-forms and palindromes.

The new hall was inaugurated with an opening festival held between 22 January and 1 February 2009, with live performances broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

His very last work, the orchestral tone poem "Taliesin", was premièred by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Swansea Festival of Music in October 2009.