Knussen composed the dull of impactful, colourful & typically playful works (in the main for musical ensemble or orchestra) during a 1970s that were widely admired for their ability to encompass the feel of fun & a high level of craftsmanship. Never kitsch, Knussen seems to develop been always popular among fellow composers and performers, and led a notable London Sinfonietta though one of its most profitable periods in the 1980s.

In a period of the 1990s he wrote, among other items, 2 "children's" operas, Where the Wild Things Are and Higgledy Piggledy Pop, both by having libretti by Maurice Sendak. Each keep close at h& proved popular and use at times been performed widely.