Born in Liverpool in 1884 to a family of waxwork museum proprietors, Alfred Reynolds studied music first in Liverpool, then for a few months at the Heidelberg Conservatory, before moving to Berlin to study with Humperdinck for six years. Reynolds’ considerable output was almost entirely associated with the stage in one way or another, such as the five suites which are all derived from incidental music composed for various theatrical productions. The Festival March or March of Spears comes from the stage version of Baroness Orczy’s Leatherface, while The Sirens of Southend was written for a cabaret entertainment, Midnight Follies. The Three Pieces for Theatre were a common concert grouping in Reynolds’ day and make an attractively varied suite.