At the head of the score of The Lily-leaf and the Grasshopper (1972), Lloyd has written, 'One evening as I lay in my canoe by the banks of the Avon, I saw a large lily-leaf come floating down stream, on it sat a grasshopper'. The painterly outer portions of the piece generate a languid, serene atmosphere. In the lighter and more animated middle section, the grasshopper holds sway. This principal character in the narrative even gets a dramatic lead-in, replete with expectant trills. As ever with Lloyd, the material is meticulously proportioned, so that the scene-setting opening sequence and the summatory close are both given due weight to counterbalance the dynamic, wide-ranging central exploits.
