A Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, which featured a glass mobile, was the inspiration for the first movement of this suite. The melodic fragments twirl through different harmonic colours, as the glass decorations refract different colours. The second movement arose during a train journey from Manchester through the Welsh Marches to Cardiff, looking out at the countryside on a grey, overcast day. The final movement plays with an image of ballet dancers leaping with bouncing balls.