Score 0-571-50808-1 on sale, parts for hire

This piece received its première at my London debut in February 1979 under the auspices of the Redcliffe Concerts of British Music. Sketching was begun only months after the conclusion of my studies with Olivier Messiaen: the Octet was very much my first attempt to integrate all that I had learnt in Paris on an instrumental canvas. The whole work (scored for flute, clarinet, percussion, celesta and four strings) has a general scherzando character, occasionally punctured by moments of lyricism or strident dynamism.

© George Benjamin