With its frequent changes of time signature and wide-spanning chords, this four-movement suite for piano written in 1933 represents a challenge for the performer and is the only known work by Rootham for the instrument. With a combination of strong melodies and his trademark restless harmony the work foreshadows later works by Armstrong Gibbs and Robin Milford. The work was dedicated to a family friend and keen pianist Pamela McKenna, wife of Reginald McKenna (1863-1943) who was Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in Asquith's government during 1915-16.In 1933 Cyril Rootham also set to music a poem by Pamela's young son Michael: Op.87 "Daybreak at Sea". Michael had died in 1931 at the age of only 21, and his mother published a memorial volume about his short life.

You can hear the work here.