This is one of the keystone works in the harp literature. It uses a rich array of playing techniques, transforming the traditional roulades, sweeps, and chords of the harp into a fresh, unique sound while presenting the performer with an extremely taxing test of skill and musicality.

After Britten's stunning international success with the War Requiem, Op. 66 (1961), his musical language went through a process of simplification. In addition, Britten returned with greater frequency to the field of instrumental music. Throughout his career he had rewarded faithful friends by writing music especially for them, and there were few who were closer professional friends than Ossian Ellis, the leading British harpist. Ellis had long been a member of the English Opera Group and English Chamber Orchestra, strong supporters of Britten's music and often asked Britten for a solo work. In March 1969 the composer surprised him with the suite. Ellis premiered it in that year's Aldeburgh Festival (Britten's own summer festival) to immediate acclaim.

The harp is famed for its ability to create flurries and cascades of notes. But Britten had reduced his habitual musical discourse to the minimum. Throughout the suite the harp produces jewel-like individual notes. When Britten uses the instrument's trademark glissando, these tend to be very short, a few notes only to produce a short but intense burst of color. The thin, ethereal notes of the harp's harmonics sometimes contrast with the very deep low notes the instrument possesses—with nothing in between. Sometimes chords, are plucked sharply, almost percussively, rather than rolled, but Britten employs no modernist techniques such as rapping the sound box.

The suite has five movements. The first is an overture marked "Majestic," a forceful piece that establishes at once that this will be a different-sounding harp work. The second movement is a very fast toccata, not driving in its rhythms, but darting and nervous.

The central crown of the suite is the third movement, Nocturne. All pieces Britten wrote with titles dealing with night and sleep are special, for to him night was a time when thoughts became disturbed, but sleep exercised magical healing powers. Further, this nocturne is also a passacaglia, an ancient form at which he excelled. The spell of this hypnotic movement is broken by a quicksilver Fugue for the fourth movement, and the Finale is a wondrous set of variations on a hymn-tune called "St Denio" or "Joanna" (known as the tune for the hymn "Immortal, Invisible"). As St Denio is a Welsh hymn-tune, the movement was a conscious "compliment to the dedicatee," as Britten put it. It is in the form of five variations, rising to a splendid, sonorous conclusion, then ending with a few additional notes, as if an ancient bard, having improvised the variations, lets his touch linger on the strings momentarily.

© Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide