Dutton Epoch

Thanks to high quality originals, these unmissable mono composer-recordings are being reissued by Dutton in its Epoch series. Frederick Grinke plays Rubbra’s eloquent Second Violin Sonata and two charming scores by Lennox Berkeley, while Max Rostal gives Reizenstein’s Prologue, Variations and Finale a tremendous authority. These are cornerstones of the British twentieth century chamber music repertoire, here in their definitive recordings with all the weight of their composers’ performances.

Jonathan Small’s eloquent performances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic of Armstrong Gibbs’s charming Oboe Concerto, and the only recently rediscovered Concerto by Cyril Scott, both works written for Léon Goossens, re-launch two lovely scores on Dutton Epoch. Complemented by Christopher Wright’s gripping Oboe Concerto and Elis Pekhonen’s exquisite oboe d’amore and strings piece, Amor Vincit Omnia, it makes for another endlessly enjoyable and varied programme from Dutton Epoch. World premiere recordings.

On this release, Roger Chase plays the celebrated Montagnana viola, which Lionel Tertis used at the height of his career. Here Chase presents four of Tertis’s own arrangements. The Delius Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, together with John Ireland’s Cello Sonata and Second Violin Sonata (this CD marks the world premiere recording of Tertis’s arrangement of Ireland’s Second Violin Sonata), make a revelatory programme of viola sonatas, the plangent sound of the instrument bringing a new vision to these works.

World premiere recordings.

Enquiries for Joseph Holbrooke’s orchestral music have been heard from enthusiasts for many years, and are now answered by Dutton Epoch’s recording shared between the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Soloist Raphael Wallfisch gives a singing performance of the delightful Cello Concerto, while the Fourth Symphony, the vivid tone poem The Pit and the Pendulum and the waltz Pandora, a charming encore from a 1920 ballet score, represent Holbrooke at his tuneful best. All are world premiere recordings, vividly played by the two orchestras.

Dutton Epoch’s pioneering recording of the BBC Concert Orchestra directed by Ronald Corp in several once popular works by John Foulds is a delightful discovery for admirers of this composer’s serious music and light music buffs alike. Most of this catchy and engaging selection has never previously been recorded, and includes three substantial orchestral suites as well such entrancing numbers as the oriental nocturne An Arabian Night, the miniature tone poem The Isles of Greece and the delightful Sicilian Aubade. Includes world premiere recordings and a first CD recording.

World premiere recordings.

Following the success of Arthur Butterworth’s recording for Dutton Epoch (CDLX7212) of his Fourth Symphony and Viola Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, we are delighted to announce the composer’s gripping direction of the RSNO in his Fifth Symphony. This work is coupled with five of his shorter orchestral works – Three Nocturnes, Coruscations, The Quiet Tarn, The Green Wind and Gigues – music written over an almost fifty-year span. Butterworth is the musical poet of the north, and as the English Sibelius he occupies a special place in the repertoire. The shorter pieces are very varied in their sound-world. From the bleak grandeur of the Nocturnes to the coruscating Gigues and the warmth of The Green Wind, this is music in which the RSNO respond eloquently to the composer’s direction. World premiere recordings.

In this tuneful and attractive programme Daniel Tong (piano) and the London Bridge Ensemble present three major chamber works by Frank Bridge from his engaging pre-First World War period, including the recording of Paul Hindmarsh’s edition of the Violin Sonata in E flat. Commanding performances of the well-known Piano Quintet of 1912 and the comparatively little-known Phantasie in F minor for string quartet, with which Bridge won second prize in the Cobbett Competition in 1905, make a fine group. These major works are complemented by charming performances of three piano pieces – April, Rosemary and Valse Capricieuse – two for viola and piano – Pensiero and the powerful Allegro Appasionato – and the Spring Song for cello and piano.