Recorded at The Colosseum, Town Hall, Watford, 5–6 December 2005
CD
$16.50
In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.
August 2006
*****
“…York Bowen… premiered his First Piano Concerto (1903) at the Proms while he was still a student at the Royal Academy of Music. It's an unashamedly virtuoso vehicle… Michael Dussek negotiates the note-splattered, Scharwenkian terrain with infectious bravado and sensitivity, and 'Tod' Handley directs with all his customary sympathy and understanding...[in] the gloriously impassioned E minor Violin Concerto (1913)... It's wonderful to hear Lorraine McAslan... playing with the kind of dashing swagger, vibrato intensity and quicksilver portamento that distinguished Heifetz's concerto recordings of the 1950s. It's a mesmerising performance, captured in opulent sound.”
2010
“York Bowen's Viola Concerto was quite a discovery last year so getting to know his Violin Concerto was an intriguing prospect. Finished in 1913 but not performed until 1920, it was briefly taken up by May Harrison but failed to establish itself. This exemplary first commercial recording reveals another substantial, exquisitely scored and unjustly forgotten Bowen gem which lovers of the Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Delius concertos should waste no time in seeking out. The slow movement proves especially fetching, evincing a most engaging poetry and warm-hearted lyricism, while the finale serves up many opportunities for virtuoso display and ends with the clinching return of the horns' rousing call to arms. Lorraine McAslan gives a technically brilliant, sweet-toned account. Vernon Handley, too, well and truly in his element, secures memorably responsive, glowingly affectionate playing from the BBC Concert Orchestra. The First Piano Concerto was written a decade earlier and first performed by the 19-year-old composer at London's Queen's Hall in December 1903. If less distinctive than its bedfellow, it's a thoroughly attractive piece, whose cheeky central Scherzo (which nods towards Saint- Saëns) precedes an extended, at times unashamedly Tchaikovskian, finale (with an exceedingly catchy main theme). This performance is outstanding, with Michael Dussek admirably stylish and Handley offering the most malleable support. The Watford Town Hall production marries amplitude and warmth to realistic balance.”
September 2006
“…York Bowen's… Violin Concerto… reveals another substantial, exquisitely scored and unjustly forgotten Bowen gem which lovers of the Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Delius concertos should waste no time in seeking out. The slow movement proves especially fetching, evincing a most engaging poetry and warm-hearted lyricism, while the finale serves up many opportunities for virtuoso display and ends with the clinching return of the horns' rousing call to arms. Lorraine McAslan gives a technically brilliant, sweet-toned account... Vernon Handley, too, well and truly in his element, secures memorably responsive glowingly affectionate playing from the BBC Concert Orchestra. The First Piano Concerto was written a decade earlier... it's a thoroughly attractive piece, whose cheeky central Scherzo... precedes an extended, at times unashamedly Tchaikovskian, finale... This performance is outstanding, with Michael Dussek admirably stylish and Handley offering the most malleable support.”
