[6] It was inspired by the Roman comic poem "Satyricon" and by Ireland's experience in being evacuated from Jersey during the Second World War.
It has a lush and highly virtuosic piano part; Scott Goddard argued that "in all English music of the last half-century there has been no purer pianoforte writing than this".
[2] The clarinet part covers the instrument's entire range, incorporating both legato and rhythmic passages.
A reviewer from the News Chronicle, cited by Colin Lawson, noted that he "had never imagined that clarinet and piano could be combined so satisfactorily; nor that (by a mixture of tact and daring) they could form such an exciting ensemble".
[5] Stuart Craggs called the work "the high point of [Ireland's] chamber music oeuvre".