The series consists of scores to musical works by Burgess, most of which are entirely original compositions, along with Burgess's arrangements of works by other composers, such as Tobias Hume and William Byrd, and a number of musical exercises / practice pieces, arranged and/or composed by Burgess for his son, Andrew Burgess-Wilson.
There are piano pieces, string quartets, guitar quartets, sonatas and other chamber works, music for solo voice and for chorus, concertos, overtures and other orchestral works, along with occasional pieces written for birthdays, anniversaries, or other celebrations. Vocal pieces include settings of texts by D. H. Lawrence, Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ, Thomas Nashe, Gabriele D'Annunzio, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Charles D'Orleans, Walter Savage Landor, and Ezra Pound.
The series includes complete scores along with sketches, drafts and fragments and, occasionally, other supporting papers, e.g. printed programmes and advertisements relating to performances of particular pieces. The complete scores are listed below according, as far as possible, to the title that Burgess attributed to each score along with an indication of the instrumentation for each piece.
For orchestra:
A Glasgow Overture
A Manchester Overture
The Wreck of the Deutschland, Burgess's setting of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ
Symphony Number 3 in C
Meditations and Fugues for Brass Band
For solo instrument and orchestra:
Concerto per Chitarra ed Orchestra [Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra]
A Little Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra
Concertino per Corno Inglese e Orchestra [Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra]
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor
For chamber ensemble:
Mr Burgess's Almanack
Two string quartets in C, one of which was composed for the Primavera Quartet
Quatuor (No.1) pour Guitares [Quartet No. 1 for Guitars]
Sonatina for Harmonica and Guitar
Rhapsody (for Oboe and Piano)
Nocturne for 4 bassoons
Sonata 1 (St. John's) for recorder and piano
Sonata 2 for recorder and keyboard / piano
Untitled trio for flutes or recorders
Due pezzetti for recorder and piano [Two pieces for recorder and piano]
Sonata in C, or Sonata No. 1 for Great Bass Recorder and Keyboard / Piano
Sonata No. 2 for Great Bass Recorder and Keyboard / Piano
Sonata No. 3 for Great Bass Recorder or Bassoon, and Keyboard / Piano
Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in G Minor
A Northumbrian Suite for treble, descant, tenor and bass recorder
Trivial Fond Records for treble, descant, tenor and bass recorder
A Picture of Dorian Gray (for piano and recorder)
Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Viola and Violoncello
Preludio e Fuga per flauto, violino, chitarra e pianoforte [Prelude and Fugue for flute, violin, guitar and piano]
Little Concerto for Oboe and Strings
Christmas Fantasy for recorders, flute, oboe, bassoon, piano, violins and violoncello
Flourish for Recorder and Trumpet in B flat
Concerto for Flute, Strings and Piano in D Minor
Passacaglia for Two Violins and Violoncello
3 Little Pieces for Recorders [and piano]
Sonatina for Clarinet in B flat (for piano and clarinet)
Setting of the Latin hymn Te lucis ante terminum for piano and unidentified solo instrument
11 untitled score for piano and recorder
Sonatina for Flute and Guitar
Two untitled score for solo instrument (possibly recorder) and piano
Sonatina for Alto Recorder and Piano
Three Little Pieces for Wind Quintet or Recorder Quintet
Trio Sonata for violin, violoncello, bassoon or great bass recorder and piano
For solo piano:
The Bad Tempered Electronic Keyboard (or 24 Preludes and Fugues)
Tango for Pianoforte
Preludes, a set of 6 short piano pieces
Two Elizabethan Airs, Burgess's arrangement of Fain Would I Change That Note by Tobias Hume, and The Leaves Be Green by William Byrd
Christmas Hymn
A Scottish Rhapsody for the 17th birthday of Andrew
Wiegenlied (Cradlesong)
Three sonatina for piano: moderato, poco lento and allegretto con anima
Friends
Interlude for Small Organ
Various untitled fugues and short score for piano
Master Coale's Pieces for Piano
For solo oboe:
Morceau pour Hautbois [Piece for oboe]
For solo English Horn / Cor Anglais:
Sonata for Solo English Horn
For solo guitar:
Arrangements (possibly for guitar) of "Pieds en l'air" and "Galliard" from Thoinot Arbeau's Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance
For chorus:
Bethlehem Palmtrees, Burgess's setting of A Song for the Virgin Mother by Ezra Pound
In Time of Plague, Burgess's setting of a poem from Thomas Nashe's masque A Pleasant Comedie, called Summers Last Will and Testament
For solo voice:
E chi ci pensa?
Vecchio Paese
La pioggia nel pineto, Burgess's setting of a poem by Gabriele D'Annunzio
Man Who Has Come Through: A Song Cycle, Burgess's setting of four poems by D. H. Lawrence, "End of Another Home Holiday", "Song of a Man Who Has Come Through", "Snake" and "Bavarian Gentians"
Sonnet (Shaksper), Burgess's setting of Shakespeare's sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments.)
Several works by Burgess's son Andrew Burgess Wilson are also present within the series.
Music composed for film, stage, radio or television projects that Burgess was working on do not form part of this series: such score are arranged according to the original (or adapted) work to which they relate, e.g. Blooms of Dublin, A Clockwork Orange, Cyrano the musical, Moses the Lawgiver, Oedipus the King, and Trotsky's in New York!
See also AB/ARCH/A/K: Notebooks and diaries, belonging to Burgess, his first wife (Lynne Wilson), and his second wife (Liana Burgess).