This version of one of the instrumental interludes from Tippett's Cantata, Crown of the Year was conceived as one of a series of tributes to the oboist Janet Craxton, first performed in December 1991 at a BBC Radio 3 concert by Nicholas Daniel and Julius Drake. In the slow outer sections the original oboe part isunchanged and is set against a keyboard version of string quartet accompaniment. The much faster central section, the oboe takes over some of the first violin part, while the original piano part is elaborated to accommodate string parts and bell sonorities, some of the textures modelled on those of Tippett's Piano Concerto.