Product Description

The final volume of Alwyn's orchestral music in this landmark Naxos series. William Alwyn's prolific output included descriptive scores, and The Moor of Venice Dramatic Overture examines the turbulent central character in Shakespeare's Othello. The Serenade and the orchestral version of Seven Irish Tunes receive premiere recordings here, both covering a wide range of moods. Following the previous recording of Concerto Grosso No. 1, this collection includes Concerto Grosso No. 2, scored for strings only and Concerto Grosso No. 3, a tribute to Sir Henry Wood.

Review

The first of William Alwyn's Concerti Grossi was included in an earlier instalment of David Lloyd-Jones's excellent series with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for Naxos. The neo-baroque second, for string orchestra, dates from 1948, and was dedicated to the conductor Muir Matheson, at a time when Alwyn was arguably the foremost British composer of film music. The third, much more piquant, and with an occasional Stravinsky-like abrasiveness, was composed in 1964 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Henry Wood. Like all Alwyn's music, both pieces fulfil their function perfectly, just as the smaller-scale works here the dramatic overture The Moor of Venice and the Seven Irish Tunes arranged into a suite for small orchestra are perfectly judged light music. The equally slight Serenade from 1932, though, is a bit more than that its four short movements have very different starting points an Australian lithograph, quotations from Nietzsche and Browning but they come together in a distinctly pithy and pungent sequence. --Observer,21/08/11

Lloyd-Jones,as you expect of a past master in this repertoire,leads his polished Liverpool players in atmospheric performances of tender affection. **** --Classic fm Magazine,Oct'11

The performances are lovely, with David Lloyd-Jones approaching each score on its own terms. Performance ***** Recording *** --BBC Music Magazine,Oct'11

Attractive and colourful music played with apt energy and drive. --Gramophone awards issue '11

Throughout, the playing of this orchestra is quite outstanding, with Lloyd-Jones at the top of his considerable form. As the conductor of so many CDs of Alwyn's music he has the style at his fingertips and the committed nature of the playing clearly has much to do with his belief in the music, which is undoubtedly not misplaced. Very fine orchestral sound in an excellent acoustic. I do not know if there are more issues of Alwyn's orchestral music to come from this source but this new CD is of such high quality that if not I should like to har the team tackle more British music. How about the Liverpudlian John McCabe's output,for instance? --IRR,Dec'11