The first movement opens with an angular melody on unaccompanied trumpet based on the whole-tone scale. The wide leaps over two octaves hint at the rugged highland landscape. Its repetition by strings gains a sense of urgency by the descending motif in the bass. The melody becomes more tender and gradually gains momentum, culminating in a declamatory recapitulation of the opening theme.

The second movement features a folk-like melody in the minor key to the accompaniment of a chromatically descending bass line. A muted middle section has the descending line moved to the upper string parts.

The next movement depicts the only Englishman of the group, who controversially suggested that Charles convert to Anglicanism to gain support in England. It features a jaunty waltz in the minor tonality with a descending figure deriving from a humorous trumpet call from more recent times.

A more contemplative movement follows, which opens with rich harmony in the upper strings and another descending figure in the bass. A cantabile unaccompanied trumpet line resolves onto the rich texture introduced by the strings at the outset.

The fifth movement bursts with energy. In seven-eight time, with the occasional six-eight interjection, and constructed using the whole-tone scale, it is based on the celebrated Jacobite song and jig ‘The Hundred Pipers’, first published in the mid-nineteenth century. The song relates the events of the Jacobite rising in 1745, including the surrender of Carlisle to Bonnie Prince Charlie in November 1745.

The penultimate movement is influenced by James Horner’s music for the film Braveheart. It begins with a plaintive melody over a minimal accompaniment. The violins eventually play the main theme, against a high counter melody on muted trumpet.