Hawk in Winter Light was inspired by the sight of a hawk circling obsessively on a bright November day, hence the constantly circular nature of the music and, especially, its melodic material. Though the central section isquicker, the underlying pulse remains the same, and the transition to a quicker tempo is hardly noticeable. The piece is therefore, and unusually for a brass quintet, a single entity, in which the outer sections are closelyrelated, the final part being partly a reprise and partly a variation of the opening.The piece was commissioned by the KlaraFestival of Flanders and is dedicated to Fine Arts Brass, who gave its first performance duringthefestival in Belgium on the 20 September 2005.