Undirected energy busting out all over is the way to describe this energetic and wholly unrestrained piece of orchestral brilliance. The first work to gain Arnold any widespread recognition, it was written before he shot himself in the foot during his Army service and an anti-authoritarian streak is certainly present in some of the harsher harmonies and dissonance. The composer refers to the string textures being a direct homage to Sibelius, one of his principal influences, though the net result is wholly and indisputably Arnold. At all levels, Arnold's innovative nature breaks through—even the instrument given prominence for the role of Beckus himself is a brash ingénue in an orchestral environment—the cornet.

Dandipratt is an archaic English alternative for urchin and Beckus the name given by the composer to an importunate local ragamuffin met while on holiday in Cornwall. This street child has great similarities with the more famous Till Eulenspiegel of Richard Strauss, similarities which allow Arnold to give full rein to an extraordinary suite of dynamic and textural motifs that characterize the writing. The score was sent to Henry Wood for consideration but was quickly rejected—Arnold always felt without having been read. The piece might well have languished in obscurity were it not for the fact that van Beinum and the London Philharmonic (with whom Arnold was then principal trumpet) had time in hand at a recording session and decided to record a homegrown work.

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