Grieg wrote roughly 250 bars of a Piano Quintet in his ‘Kladdebok’ (sketchbook), immediately before the revisions that he made to ‘Peer Gynt’ for performances in 1892. This quintet ‘torso’ follows Sonata principles similar to those found in Brahms or Franck. After some general research and experimentation with the material, Finnissy decided to fashion a one-movement Kammersymphonie, following on from Grieg’s exposition,

As Finnissy had decided to complete the Grieg Piano Quintet in B flat (EG118) as seamlessly, and as closely to the manner of Grieg, as possible, he thought – for fun – that he might shadow that ‘creative journey’ with one that was wholly his own, starting from a virtually identical point, but then diverging at the same moment that he had (in disguise) taken over from Grieg.