CD1
Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra,
Op.77 (1962) [15:27]
Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra,
Op.108 (1971) [20:03]
Concertino for Oboe and Strings,
Op.28a (1953) [08:51]
Concerto for Flute and Strings,
Op.45 (1954) [10:41]
Concerto No.2 for Flute and Orchestra,
Op.111 (1972) [12:42]
Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra,
Op.133 (1988) [11:08]
Kenneth Sillito, Lyn Fletcher (violins)
Rivka Golani (viola)
Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
Karen Jones (flute)
Michala Petri (recorder)
London Musici/Mark Stephenson
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Vernon
Handley (oboe)
English Chamber Orchestra/Okku Kamu
(recorder)
CD2
Concerto for Clarinet and Strings,
Op.20 (1949) [15:58]
Clarinet Concerto No.2, Op.115
(Cadenza by Richard Rodney Bennett,
written for this recording) (1974) [15:59]
Concerto No.1 for Horn and Orchestra,
Op.11 (1944) [22:33]
Concerto No.2 for Horn and Strings,
Op.58 (1956) [13:58]
Michael Collins (clarinet)
Richard Watkins (horn)
London Musici/Mark Stephenson
CD3
Concerto for Piano Duet and Strings,
Op.32 (1951) [20:00]
Concerto for 2 Pianos (3 hands),
Op.104 (1969) [13:31]
Fantasy on a Theme of John Field,
for piano and orchestra, Op.116
(Dedicated to John Lill) (1975)
[21:42]
John Lill (piano) (Field)
David Nettle and Richard Markham (pianos)
London Musici/Mark Stephenson (duet)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon
Handley
CD4
Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra,
Op.46 (1954) [09:29]
Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra,
Op.67 (1959) [22:20]
Concerto for 28 Players,
Op.105 (1970) [21:23]
Philharmonic Concerto,
Op.120 (1976) [15:19]
Tommy Reilly (harmonica)
Eduardo Fernández (guitar)
London Sinfonietta/David Atherton (Harmonica)
English Chamber Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth
(Guitar)
London Musici/Mark Stephenson (28)
BBC Concert Orchestra/Vernon Handley
(Philharmonic)
Full track and recording details at
end of review
DECCA UNIVERSAL 4765343 [4 CDs:
79:33 + 69:03 + 55:35 + 69:05]
The John Kehoe Conifer
legacy of Arnold recordings has become
something of a grail. As with many such
inaccessible objects of desire one must
disentangle the glamour of inaccessibility
from the intrinsic worth of the performances.
The Conifer Arnold series has been deleted
and largely out of the hands of music-lovers,
collectors and enthusiasts for about
a decade; nothing like the timescale
of deprivation for English music on
Lyrita vinyl or the Gerhardt RCA Classic
Film Scores legacy but parallels can
be discerned.
There are some scintillatingly
superb and poetically poignant performances
in this box but not everything is the
best in the market. I will try to point
out in this review where other Arnold
discs might ideally be added as a supplement.
That said there are many unique recordings
here and much that stands supreme in
the Arnold discography and catalogue.
Otherwise there should be and is much
praise for Decca and for John Kehoe
(and in a small footnote) to Sony-BMG
for striking a deal that has brought
these concertos together into one logical
box though with one really glaring omission:
the Oboe Concerto – it was never recorded
by Conifer.
Here in one box is
represented most of one core aspect
of the Arnold catalogue. Amongst these
works you will find music that one could
plausibly call The Essential Arnold.
But you will not find many grand assaults
on the emotions, the scarifying torment,
the internal conflicts or the unalloyed
tragedy of the symphonies. There is
no substantial equivalent among the
concertos of the counterpoint of pain
and ecstasy to be heard in the second
movement of the Sixth Symphony or in
much of the Seventh and Ninth. Perhaps
you would not expect that but the interplay
between solo instrument and orchestra
could have been a vehicle for conflict
and vituperation. It is simply that
Arnold chose the symphony to be the
vehicle for such psychological expression
and costly exploration. Even so the
concertos are by no means all sunshine
and there are bleak and despairing moments.
You will also encounter irresistible
melancholy alongside the voice of the
irrepressible singer and the jovial
clown-bon viveur.
Arnold is never longwinded.
If what he says takes a long time to
say it is because it could not be said
in a shorter time. The concertos are
evidence of this concision with the
works running from 9:29 to 21:30. It
is also interesting to note that they
span a half century: that’s every decade
during which he was creatively active;
from the confident 1940s through maturity
and onwards to the bleaker times of
the 1980s.
What we hear are fourteen
concertos recorded by Conifer with Mark
Stephenson’s London Musici and various
orchestras conducted by Handley. The
Conifers derive from two all-concerto
discs (CDCF172 and CDCF228) and a selection
of other Conifer anthologies; all deleted.
To these have been added outliers garnered
from Decca anthologies including Fernandez’s
Guitar Concerto and Reilly’s Harmonica
Concerto as well as Sony-BMG’s Recorder
Concerto with Michala Petri. Some of
the Decca originals have been heard
before on CD notably on Decca 468 803
as the single disc Arnold chapter in
The British Music Collection.
Incidentally these three Arnold Edition
boxes also form part of The British
Music Collection.
Recording quality is
excellent throughout; as it is for the
first two volumes of the Arnold Edition.
It is only in the third volume that
there are a very small number of items
from the 1940s and 1950s that stand
out amid the analogue FFRR and the digital
splendours.
CD1
The Concerto for
Two Violins and Orchestra is a serious
work but not as much as Paul Kling and
Peter McHugh would have us believe on
their Louisville issue review
which was for many years our only way
of getting to know it. It was written
for Menuhin and Albert Lysy who gave
the premiere, with the composer conducting,
in 1962. The concerto lacks the ripest
romantic reach of some of his works
although that dimension is never totally
absent – listen to the sighing-breathing
writing in both the first and second
movements. Perhaps any two violin concerto
will call up cool-blooded Bachian references
as well as thoughts of Holst’s similarly
specified concerto – though the Arnold
is not neo-classical. Sillito and Fletcher
bring out the romantic fibre of the
piece.
I have not heard the
versions by Igor and Vesna Gruppman
and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Donald Barra on Koch 37134-2
nor that by Albert Lysy and Sophia Reuter
with Camerata Lysy conducted by Yehudi
Menuhin on Dinemec DCCD 001. By the
way if you have the now deleted BBC
Radio Classics set 15656 91817 you can
hear a slightly more tender and yieldingly
laid-back version than the Conifer.
It’s from Alan Loveday and Frances Mason
with the LPO conducted by the composer.
The composer there allows himself just
over 17 minutes by comparison with 15:32
in the Conifer version and the work
benefits from that additional span.
The Viola Concerto
is from 1971 and you can hear it
played by Roger Best in its first broadcast
performance on 18 October 1971. First
though you have to track down BBC Radio
Classics 15656 91817 – long deleted.
There the Northern Sinfonia are conducted
by the composer. There’s little between
Best and Golani - even the signature
tone of the viola sounds similar - except
that Golani for Conifer-Decca sets a
slower pace in the middle movement.
There are lovely insouciant Arnoldian
moments even though in the finale the
composer succumbs to some arid passages.
You are in safe and inspired hands with
this Golani version.
Then comes a work for
oboe and strings which appeared originally
as a filler with the Arnold Ninth Symphony
on Conifer 75605 51273 2. This is not
the Oboe Concerto but the Oboe Concertino.
The Oboe Concerto is absent from the
present Decca set and is best heard
played by Donald Hunt (EMI Classics
3 70563 2) rather than the hasty version
from Jennifer Galloway on Chandos CHAN
9967. I have not heard Malcolm Messiter/Ross
Pople London Festival Orchestra on Arte
Nova 74321 46503-2 which resurfaced
for a while on Hyperion CDA66332. If
the Oboe Concerto is amongst his masterworks
– as I believe it to be – then this
Oboe Concertino is another gift. It
is a gift partly by the composer and
partly by Roger Steptoe who took Arnold’s
Oboe Sonatina and orchestrated it. You
can tell it is not pure Arnold by the
orchestral treatment which is more RVW
than echt-Arnold. Still the work is
a most beautiful and succinct piece
which across its nine minutes traverses
much the same territory as the Concerto.
Both the Concerto and the Sonatina were
written for Leon Goossens. Do not miss
the Concertino amid the riches of this
set. It is most poetically and smoothly
played by Nicholas Daniel – exactly
as we would expect from an artist who
amid many other triumphs has done so
much for neglected British music.
(An aside: we never
seem to hear of Roger Steptoe these
days. I think that is very regrettable.
You can read more about him at http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/rogersteptoe/
)
Then come the two three
movement Flute Concertos from
Karen Jones. Neither is longer than
13 minutes. They were both written for
Richard Adeney; one in 1954; the other
at his insistence in 1972. By the way
Adeney was also the dedicatee of the
Flute Sonatina. Jones is recorded forward
in the audio image and puts both concertos
through their paces. The first is typically
flighty and virtuosic with one of Arnold’s
finest songful andantes. The
second, while having its brilliant moments,
is more pensive and hemmed in by shadows.
It rather nicely flanks a vivace
with two more reflective movements,
the second of which has a decidedly
cool French air. A poetic work for sure.
You can hear Adeney in both concertos
on EMI Classics 0946 3 70563 2 5 only
recently (2006) reissued. It was previously
on EMI Studio CDM 7 63491 2. An invaluable
and inexpensive instalment in the British
Composers series, the EMI disc is
packed with six concertos running to
just short of eighty minutes. Added
to the two flute works are the concertos
for horn (1); clarinet (1) and trumpet.
The EMI disc is a strongly recommended
supplement to this Decca set not only
because of the dedicatee’s take on the
two flute works but also because it
includes the best version of the Oboe
Concerto and the only version of the
Trumpet Concerto. Neither the Trumpet
Concerto nor the Oboe Concerto appear
on this Decca set. Adeney’s recordings
of the two works are in 1980 analogue
and he is recorded very close-up without
the more naturally distanced yet still
assertive placement adopted for the
Conifer disc. There’s little between
Adeney and Jones though in the Second
Concerto I thought Adeney was a shade
more soulful.
The Recorder Concerto
dates from that dramatically intense
burst of activity in 1988 – the same
period that saw the completion of the
Ninth Symphony for Charles Groves. Written
for Michala Petri it strikes me as cooler
emotionally than much of his other music
and just a shade warmed-over rather
than fresh from the creative furnace.
It carries overtones of Nielsen’s writing.
The best movement is the finale which
has a few remarkably Mozartian moments
amongst the whooping, slurred and piping
hallmarks. There’s also a dash of fleeting
nostalgic sweetness. This recording
was originally issued on RCA 09026 62534-2.
CD2
The First Clarinet
Concerto was written in 1949 for
the leading British clarinet of the
day, Frederick Thurston (1901-1953).
It is interesting to compare this concerto
with Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto – both
date from about the same time. The Arnold
is more brusque and there are moments
here when Arnold has an eye on the Edinburgh
audiences in thorny and even ruthlessly
determined writing for strings. While
there are some gruff moments the Finzi
more consistently explores the English
pastoral homeland in the composer’s
distinctively poignant way. Angela Malsbury
on EMI is closely recorded with great
impact – those pizzicati in the first
movement almost pop with power. Stereo
separation is used to the most dramatic
effect. Thea King (Thurston’s widow)
on Hyperion is more naturalistically
recorded on Helios CDH55060 which also
offers the Second Concerto and works
by Maconchy and Britten (previously
Hyperion CDA66634). It also includes
an unconsidered trifle in the shape
of Christopher Palmer’s arrangement
of a piece lasting 2:37 – the Scherzetto
from Arnold’s film music for You
Know What Sailors Are. On the Conifer
disc we hear another brilliant mainstay
of the British music revival: Michael
Collins. Collins won the BBC Young Musician
of the Year with the Finzi Clarinet
Concerto. I recall hearing him playing
the work live at the Second Finzi Festival.
In the case of Arnold 1 he is faster
than both Malsbury (EMI) and King (Hyperion)
but he does not sound rushed and the
music registers well emotionally. His
tone is succulent and he is nicely placed
in the audio image. If pushed I might
well recommend Malsbury above him simply
because, by a shading, she characterises
the music with brighter colours.
The Clarinet Concerto
No. 2 has a first movement that
is by turns fey and scatty. The central
Lento is a less of a glance and
more of a long lingering Brief Encounter.
It seems to catch the composer looking
wistfully back over two or three decades
even if later it begins to seethe with
a much more modern angst. The whooping
flapper returns at the start and end
of the Pre-Goodman Rag finale
but softens into irresistible nostalgic
1950s sentimentality before hinting
at the military bands of Mahler and
Ives. Those sweetly melancholy reflections
in the finale remind us of similar moments
in the Eighth Symphony (Collins at 1:06).
The Conifer sound has the advantage
of being fatter than that of Hyperion
but again there is little to choose
between them. It should be noted that
Collins here takes things a little slower
than King.
The Second Clarinet
Concerto was dedicated to Benny Goodman
‘with admiration and affection’. It
was premiered by Goodman on 17 August
1974 with the Denver Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Brian Priestman at Red
Rocks, Denver. You need to brace yourselves
for the finale almost as much as for
the finale of the Concerto for Phyllis
and Cyril. Aesthetes beware!
The First Horn Concerto
was written for Charles Gregory,
first horn and player-chairman of the
LPO in 1946. It was premiered by Gregory
with Ansermet conducting in December
that year. Richard Watkins revels in
the work’s immersion in romantic elixir.
At 22+ minutes it’s amongst the longest
of the Arnold concertos most of which
are pretty compact. As befits its scale
the mood range is wide and throughout
takes in some brooding Sibelian intensity
and woodwind chatter. This is poetically
done by Watkins and this is the work’s
only recording. It is a much more rounded
suave work than the First Clarinet Concerto
of only five years later.
There’s yet more superb
recording quality for the Second
Horn Concerto. Again Watkins is
the soloist. The writing is more strongly
characteristic and all the mature hallmarks
are in place – as distinctive as a Martinu
or Moeran score. The Andante grazioso
is redolent of Ravel’s Pavane.
The work was written for Dennis Brain
who premiered it at the Cheltenham Festival.
The only ‘competition’ is from the deleted
BBC Radio Classics double featuring
a BBC recording made on 3 March 1969
with the composer conducting the ECO.
Alan Civil is quicker than Watkins and
his sound is more squat, moist and fruity.
You will want to hear the composer-conducted
version but Watkins registers most strongly
at all levels and his recording is so
much better.
CD3
Some of the other works
have competition on disc; not so the
Piano Duet Concerto. This
is from Arnold’s early maturity and
is represented in the catalogue only
by this recording. Of all the concertos
this is the one with virtually declared
pretensions toward the serious Brahmsian
concerto. Of course nothing here is
quite Brahms – it’s more a matter
of epic demeanour, serious, thrusting,
adventurous endeavour, heroic intent.
Its Larghetto is also intensely
serious establishing a mood that blends
beauty and regret. Its linkage is back
to the First Horn Concerto. Nettle and
Markham make the dust fly in the finale
as the notes scuttle and scintillate
across superbly launched and driven
string ostinati. The music never once
drops its guard or drifts into popular
music.
In this it is unlike
the Concerto for Three Hands Two
Pianos (aka Concerto for
Phyllis and Cyril) where everything
is unbuttoned and the hair is completely
let down. Nettle and Markham however
remain models of sobriety even when
the composer tips them the wink to let
it all hang out. It’s just a shade too
strait-laced for me. Mind you if you
find EMI CDM7 64044-2 you will catch
up with the original pianist pair (Phyllis
Sellick and Cyril Smith) and Arnold
conducting them. The undiluted article
– which may leave you shuddering with
embarrassment in the finale. However
the first movement is one of Arnold’s
grandest inspirations while the Andante
is one of his most leisurely drippingly
sentimental slow movements. The work
is heard at its most extended on the
original EMI recording. Intriguingly
the same pair take it a minute slower
on the version recorded with the BBCSO
at the Proms on 16 August 1969. There
is another explosively recommendable
version although I cannot track it down
at the moment. That is a recording made
by the redoubtable Boult pupil Douglas
Bostock on RLPO Live with Antonio Piricone
and Martin Roscoe.
Finally a single movement
piece from about the same time as the
Seventh Symphony and the Second Clarinet
Concerto. In the John Field Fantasy
contact with Hoffnung left its
mark in the shape of some very effective
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov pastiche
seamlessly resolved into a Arnoldian
backdrop. All of this is spun from a
gracious feminine Field nocturne. The
work struck me as a sort of counterpart
to Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme
of Paganini with some gawky infusions
typical of Prokofiev at his most grotesque
and Shostakovich in the First Piano
Concerto. It’s a work that will surely
ascend to popularity in the future.
Discover it now in the hands of John
Lill – its dedicatee. I have also heard
estimable private recordings made by
Phillip Dyson who has made a speciality
of the piece and by Martin Roscoe.
CD4
The Guitar Concerto
has first and final movements that
blend the grace of a pavane, the animalistic
drive of Django Reinhardt's playing
and the warm gardens of Ponce's Mexico
and of de Falla's Granada. Surely Stanley
Myers must have heard the Allegro
before he wrote his Cavatina
- or was it the other way around?
The Lento is bluesy but also
astringent - nightmare-ish - echoing
across to Richard Rodney Bennett's Third
Symphony. It is a typically lovely work
- just listen to the guitar at 1.46
in the con brio movement! - though
I am not sure that the 11 minute lento
has the concentration to sustain such
a long span.
Arnold’s Harmonica
Concerto is vintage stuff with a
whooping finale that is not short on
Spanishry - even castanets. In Reilly’s
hands the whole thing is glorious, inventive,
nonchalant and outrageously sentimental
but it works with a vengeance.
This was another Proms commission written
in 1954 originally for Larry Adler whose
recording was issued on LP by RCA Gold
Seal GL42747. Of this piece Adler wrote:
"They wanted a 9-minute work and
9-minute work they got. ... In the third
movement he (Arnold) has me playing
so fast that I can’t see how I do it."
Reilly recorded the concerto again,
this time for Chandos with Cedric Dumont
conducting the Basle Radio Symphony
Orchestra on CHAN 9248. There’s also
a version on Pavane ADW 7286: Antonio
Serrano with the Belgian National Orchestra
and Ronald Zollman.
The Concerto
for 28 Players is a late work
premiered by the composer conducting
the ECO on 25 April 1970 at the Queen
Elizabeth Hall. It is a work of thrumming
tension suggestive of Bernard Herrmann
in the ruthless hunting tension of the
first movement. There is something of
Britten’s tautly fanfaring string writing
in Serenade in the finale. This
is a work dating from some of Arnold’s
darkest days and it shows. I have not
heard the competing Chandos version
(CHAN9509) from the City of London Sinfonia
and Richard Hickox. The disc also valuably
includes the Gipps Variations and
all three Little Suites.
The final disc of the
box ends with the Philharmonic
Concerto. This, like the Concerto
for 28 Players is a concerto for
orchestra but then most of his works
are in the nature of concertos for orchestra.
This is in three movements with percussion
touches characteristic of the Commonwealth
Christmas Overture and the Fourth
Symphony. The middle movement is pessimistic
and makes free with some fairly modest
dissonance. Given that this was written
for the LPO’s Bicentennial tour of the
USA with Haitink this is excoriating
stuff and while the victorious finale
goes convincingly enough through the
correct hoops the payload is tragic.
The work was commissioned by Commercial
Union and premiered on 31 October 1976
by the LPO and Haitink at the Royal
Festival Hall who duly gave the first
US performance on 7 November 1976 in
Chicago. There is a competing recording
on the LPO Live label (LPO Live 0013)
but I have not as yet received a copy
for review. It’s a promising effort
setting down a programme at the RFH
on 24 September 2004 conducted by Vernon
Handley and comprising Beckus,
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness,
Flourish for a 21st Birthday,
Symphony No.6 and the Philharmonic
Concerto.
The Decca box has cut
corners on the notes although you get
the essentials. The original discs variously
carried extensive annotation from Margaret
Archibald and Piers Burton Page.
This Decca set together
with the other two boxes make 13 CDs
– the single largest Arnold collection
ever issued at one time. It’s an essential
purchase and inexpensive. But do supplement
it with the EMI discs of the three Sinfoniettas
and the six concertos – two of which
fill gaps here. Other works are scattered
across the catalogue amid anthologies
and other collections. Some can only
be had if you can track down deletions,
one of the most valuable of these is
the BBC Radio Classics 75th
Birthday tribute (2 CDs: 15656 91817).
It’s Arnold gold. This includes eleven
works, ten of which are orchestral with
the composer conducting. The analogue
source recordings come from BBC broadcasts
between 1966 and 1977. If you see this
set do not let it escape.
There are seventeen
concertos in the present four disc box.
This represents a goodly swathe through
the genre; most of them but by no means
all. Lacking are the completely unknown
Shakespeare concerto for cello,
the irresistibly limpid oboe concerto,
the recorder concertino, the late trumpet
concerto, saxophone concerto, the celebratory
concerto for organ reviewed at Arnold_Rinaldo.htm,
and the recently rediscovered Burlesque
for horn and orchestra; the latter premiered
at Northampton. The very brief Serenade
for guitar and orchestra was once
available on LP in a performance by
Julian Bream but can now be heard on
Chandos CHAN 9963 where the soloist
is Craig Ogden. The disc should be invaluable
as it also includes the Arnold Guitar
Concerto together with the Berkeley
concerto and the Five Bagatelles
by his friend and film collaborator
William Walton. They have been orchestrated
for guitar with chamber orchestra. To
round out the Arnold picture we must
not forget the Fantasy for audience
and orchestra and the Grand Concerto
Gastronomique for eater, waiter,
food and orchestra; the former a Proms
‘special’; the latter a Hoffnung artefact
– surprise! surprise!
There are some scintillatingly
superb and poetically poignant performances
in this generous Decca set. This is
crucial Arnold superbly performed and
recorded, handsomely packaged and the
price is well placed for the consumer.
Get the set while you can – discoveries
and rediscoveries aplenty.
Rob Barnett
Volume
1 The symphonies Volume
2 The Concertos Volume
3 Orchestral Music etc.
THE MALCOLM ARNOLD EDITION – Detailed
track listing
Volume 2 – SEVENTEEN CONCERTOS
CD1
Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra,
Op.77 15:27
1. Allegro risoluto 05:47
2. Andantino 06:55
3. Vivace 02:45
Kenneth Sillito, Lyn Fletcher (violins)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1989 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Mark Brown
Recording Engineer: Antony Howell
Recorded 27-30 December 1988 at Snape
Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk
Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra,
Op.108 20:03
1. Allegro con spirito 07:27
2. Andante con moto 10:08
3. Allegro vivace 02:28
Rivka Golani (viola)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1992 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tim Handley
Recording Engineer: Nick Parker
Recorded 10, 11 and 13 December 1991
in Watford Town Hall
Concertino for Oboe and Strings, Op.28a
08:51
1. Leggiero 02:48
2. Andante con moto 04:18
3. Vivace 01:45
Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley
P 1996 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Andrew Hallifax
Recorded in the Wessex Hall, Poole,
Dorset, 17-18 June 1996
Concerto for Flute and Strings, Op.45
10:41
1. Allegro energico 04:04
2. Andante grazioso 04:39
3. Vivace 01:58
Karen Jones (flute)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1989 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Mark Brown
Recording Engineer: Antony Howell
Recorded 27-30 December 1988 at Snape
Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk
Concerto No.2 for Flute and Orchestra,
Op.111 12:42
1. Allegro moderato 05:44
2. Vivace 03:04
3. Allegretto 03:54
Karen Jones, flute
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Recording Engineers: Tryggvi Tryggvason
and Andrew Hallifax
Recorded 28-30 June 1993 in All Saints’Church,
Petersham, Surrey
Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra,
Op.133
1. Allegro
2. Lento
3. Vivace
Faber Music
Michala Petri (recorder)
English Chamber Orchestra
Okku Kamu
1995 BMG Entertainment (UK and Ireland)
Ltd.
Recording Producer: Ralph Mace
Recording Engineer: Mike Ross-Trevor
Recorded 21-13 June 1992 at The Hit
Factory, London
CD2
Concerto for Clarinet and Strings, Op.20
15:58
1. Allegro 06:36
2. Andante con moto 06:16
3. Allegro con fuoco 03:06
Michael Collins (clarinet)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1989 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Mark Brown
Recording Engineer: Antony Howell
Recorded 27-30 December 1988 at Snape
Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk
Clarinet Concerto No.2, Op.115 15:59
1. Allegro vivace 05:48
2. Lento 07:52
3. (The Pre-Goodman Rag) Allegro ma
non troppo 02:19
Cadenza by Richard Rodney Bennett,
written for this recording
Michael Collins (clarinet)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Recording Engineers: Tryggvi Tryggvason
and Andrew Hallifax
Recorded 28-30 June 1993 in All Saints’
Church, Petersham, Surrey
Concerto No.1 for Horn and Orchestra,
Op.11 22:33
1. Allegro comodo 07:37
2. Andante con moto 10:12
3. Allegro con brio 04:44
Richard Watkins (horn)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Recording Engineers: Tryggvi Tryggvason
and Andrew Hallifax
Recorded 28-30 June 1993 in All Saints’
Church, Petersham, Surrey
Concerto No.2 for Horn and Strings,
Op.58 13:58
1. Con energico 05:01
2. Andante grazioso 05:26
3. Vivace 03:31
Richard Watkins (horn)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1989 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Mark Brown
Recording Engineer: Antony Howell
Recorded 27-30 December 1988 at Snape
Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk
CD3
Concerto for Piano Duet and Strings,
Op.32 20:00
1. Allegro 06:52
2. Larghetto 07:05
3. Vivace 06:03
David Nettle and Richard Markham (piano
duet)
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Recording Engineers: Tryggvi Tryggvason
and Andrew Hallifax
Recorded 28-30 June 1993 in All Saints’
Church, Petersham, Surrey
Concerto for 2 Pianos (3 hands), Op.104
13:31
1. Allegro moderato 05:11
2. Andante moderato 05:13
3. Allegro 03:07
David Nettle and Richard Markham (pianos)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1994 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Andrew Hallifax
Recorded on 29 and 31 May 1994 at All
Saints’ Church, Petersham, Surrey
Fantasy on a Theme of John Field, for
piano
and orchestra, Op.116 21:42
(Dedicated to John Lill)
John Lill (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1993 Conifer Records Ltd.
Recording Producer: Andrew Keener
Recording Engineer: Tryggvi Tryggvason
Assistant Engineer: Mike Cox
Recorded on 19-20 April 1993 at Henry
Wood Hall, London
CD4
Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra,
Op.46 09:29
1. Grazioso 03:49
2. Mesto 03:41
3. Con brio 01:59
Tommy Reilly (harmonica)
London Sinfonietta
David Atherton
Decca Music Group
Recording Producer: Chris Hazell
Recording Engineer: Stanley Goodall
Recorded at St John’s, Smith Square,
London on
Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra,
Op.67 22:20
1. Allegro 06:22
2. Lento 11:33
3. Con brio 04:25
Eduardo Fernández (guitar)
English Chamber Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth
Decca Music Group
Recording Producer: Paul Myers
Recording Engineer: Jonathan Stokes
Concerto for 28 Players, Op.105 21:23
1. Vivace 06:50
2. Larghetto 09:51
3. Allegro 04:42
London Musici
Mark Stephenson
1993 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Tim Handley
Recording Producer: Nick Parker
Recorded on 10, 11 and 13 December 1991
in Watford Town Hall
Philharmonic Concerto, Op.120 15:19
1. Intrada 05:19
2. Aria 06:28
3. Chacony 03:32
BBC Concert Orchestra
Vernon Handley
1998 Conifer Records Limited
Recording Producer: Andrew Walton
Recording Engineer: Richard Millard
Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall,
London, 13-15 October 1997
DECCA UNIVERSAL 4765343 [4 CDs: 79:33
+ 69:03 + 55:35 + 69:05] 
