Viola and Orchestral Concerti
Best of British – 20th Century Classics
Live at the Proms
Daniel Hope
Philip Dukes
Christian Poltéra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis
Bax: Phantasy
Four Orchestral Pieces; Overture, Elegy and Rondo
All three of these rarely heard works come from the first half of Bax’s career as a composer. The earliest is the lightweight but charming set of Four Orchestral Pieces from 1914, recorded here for the first time.
Sir Andrew Davis is among the most distinguished interpreters of British music today and here turns to the works of Sir Arnold Bax. With the inclusion of the Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra, this disc marks the completion of Chandos’s long project to record Bax’s complete orchestral music over time.
Riders to the Sea
Ralph Vaughan Williams
“Philip Dukes proves a rich and eloquent viola soloist in Flos Campi in which the Northern Sinfonia Chorus is balanced more forwardly and powerfully than usual, and this is a remarkably successful performance on all counts.” (Penguin Guide)
Takemitsu
A String Around Autumn
The music of Takemitsu successfully bridged the cultures and philosophies of east and west, and few composers of our time created music of such fascination and colour. The majority of his large output of compositions were related to natural phenomena in one way or another, often by referring to the sounds of nature that inform our living environment.
Geoffrey Burgon
Viola Concerto ‘Ghosts of the Dance’ (2008)
Merciless Beauty (1996-97)
Cello Concertoo (2007)
Thanks to Geoffrey Burgon’s highly successfully career in film and television soundtracks, his concert music sits comfortably among those composers working in a modern tonality. Both concertos are recent and given their world premiere recordings here
The Film Music of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (b. 1936)
Murder on the Orient Express
Far from the Madding Crowd
Lady Caroline Lamb*
Nicole’s Theme from ‘Tender is the Night’
Enchanted April
Cynthia Miller ondes martenot
Love Scene from ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’
William Alwyn
Orchestral Music
Pastoral Fantasia
The seven works on this recording show Alwyn responding in his own individual way to the various challenges presented to him in writing for the orchestra, from the early Five Preludes, in which one can sense already his keen ear for orchestral colour, through to the self-assured scoring of his maturity in the evocative Autumn Legend.
Britten, Benjamin
Lachrymae
Simple Symphony
Temporal Variations
Suite on English Folk Tunes
Arranger:
 Colin Matthews
Conductor:
 Steuart Bedford
Orchestra:
 Northern Sinfonia
Artists:
 Nicholas Daniel
Philip Dukes
Catherine Wyn-Roger
Piers Hellawell
Inside Story
The Still Dancers
Quadruple Elegy
BBC Scottish SO
The Vanbrugh String Quartet
Clio Gould
Philip Dukes
Martyn Brabbins
Sally Beamish
Viola Concerto
Cello Concerto “River”
Tam Lin
“Utterly compelling performances superbly recorded” Classic CD
“I recommend this disc most strongly” Gramophone
“The performances have that sense of deep commitment and precision missing in so many recordings of modern music.” Fanfare
Frank Martin
Ballades
Adrian Bending timpani
Celia Chambers flute
Ian Bousfield trombone
Keith Millar percussion
Martin Robertson saxophone
Peter Dixon cello
Philip Dukes viola
Rachel Gledhill percussion
Rachel Masters harp
Roderick Elms piano/harpsichord
Vivaldi’s Children
Six Concerti, Op. 10 CD
There are many sound versions of these concertos, both in their published form and in their original versions, with modern and with period instruments, but what I particularly like about this set is that it bridges the different approaches by employing modern instruments, including the double bass, but in chamber proportions. Better still, there’s sheer joy in the faster sections of the music, while the nightmare quality of la Notte is fully brought out, too….” www.Musicweb.com (February 2012)
