Farewell to Stromness, though short, undemanding, and somewhat obscure, stands as one of Peter Maxwell Davies' most beautiful and heartfelt works, no doubt owing to the circumstances that inspired it. Upon learning of the proposal to dig an open-pit uranium mine in his adopted home of Orkney, Scotland, Peter Maxwell Davies composed a handful of works in protest of the plan. The largest and most serious piece in this vein was the orchestral work Black Pentecost from 1979. The following year he created a suite of smaller numbers, collectively known as The Yellow Cake Revue, named after a euphemism for the radioactive uranium. Among the cabaret songs and other numbers in the Revue, Davies composed two piano interludes: the playfully sardonic Yesnaby Ground (named after the cliffs under which the uranium vein was found) and the more somber Farewell to Stromness, named after quaint little town at the edge of the proposed mine site.

This latter piece is built upon a repeating bass line that makes a simple diatonic ascent, over which Davies sets a bittersweet melody delicately ornamented with Scotch snaps. As the tune repeats, an added voice offers a plaintive countermelody, leading into the resolute chordal texture and minor key of the middle section. A series of dramatic harmonic shifts and a gradual crescendo lead to the piece's central climax, which finally resolves by suddenly receding back to the original bass line, over which the piece's lyrical melody is once again intoned.

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