Malcolm Arnold wrote this little fantasy in the early 1960s as a present for his children Katharine and Robert to play together. Even as a miniature it has many of the hallmarks of the Arnold style: the evocative melodic writing together with the occasional dark dissonance. It was written at a time when Arnold was deeply into film music; indeed in the famous film 'Whistle Down the Wind' the main theme is also for flute/piccolo and is not entirely dissimilar to that found in this fantasy.
