British Concertante miniatures with character and poise.

This collection of crossover music - poised between light and art - opens with four pieces by Angela Morley, an English composer, arranger, and conductor whose career bridged British light music and Hollywood film scoring. Born Wally Stott, she came to public notice through her stylish arrangements for radio and television, especially The Goon Show. After transitioning in 1972, she built a second career in Los Angeles, orchestrating for major composers and contributing to scores for Star Wars, E.T., Superman, and Home Alone.

The first, The Liaison for violin, cello and orchestra, is a heartfelt discussion between the two protagonists. Whether the conversation is philosophical, nostalgic, or romantic, Morley creates a charming sound world in such a short piece. This is followed by another reflective number, Reverie scored for solo violin and orchestra. It has a lovely, gentle melody which permeates the piece. Once again, it is too short, the listener is just getting into the ambience when it ceases. A Tender Mood is exactly what it says on the tin: the solo violinist captures the atmosphere well, with this wistful song. Angela Morley’s final contribution is Harlequin. He is the spry trickster of commedia dell’arte, and is defined by his acrobatics, quick wit, and diamond‑patterned costume. A mischievous servant, he schemes, flirts, and outsmarts rivals with playful ingenuity. The music, written for clarinet and orchestra captures this roguish vivacity.

The liner notes explain that Bryan Kelly’s Concerto for Two Trumpets was written in Italy and originally had an organ accompaniment. He later decided to arrange it with strings. The Concerto opens with a good-humoured, rhythmic Allegro, that is followed by a plaintive Andante, whose sadness feels entirely unforced. It concludes with a rip-roaring Allegro designed to show off the trumpeters’ virtuosity, full of sparkle and energetic interplay. It is a definite candidate for a Promenade Concert.

Sadly, most listeners will associate Francis Chagrin only with the 1955 film The Colditz Story. There was much more to this Continental Briton than that. Born in Bucharest as Alexander Paucker he settled in the United Kingdom in 1936. He composed over two hundred scores for films, as well as writing music for theatre and radio. There are also some outstanding concert hall works including two Symphonies and a Piano Concerto. The Sarabande is a short piece for oboe, or flute, or violin and orchestra; it is heard here played on the oboe. This slow, stately dance is shaped with a calm dignity and a lightly solemn air.

The impetus for Philip Spratley’s Belvoir Suite for flute and orchestra was the view from his studio back in the 1970s. He looked out onto the rolling pastoral Vale of Belvoir and the commanding, hill-crowned Castle. The Suite opens with an urbane neo-Baroque evocation of the Castle, but subject to a few modern twists and turns. The second movement is the Elegy for Isobel in memory of a young chorister, presumably from Bourne Abbey where he was director of music. It is suitably lugubrious, but never maudlin. The third movement celebrates happier things with a wistful portrayal of The Girls with the long hair. The Suite concludes with a clip‑cloppy, happy‑go‑lucky depiction of Trudy exercising her horse in the Vale on an early morning. This is a magical suite, full of interest and alive with character and quiet enchantment. The flute playing is a delight.

Bryan Kelly’s music is marked by a lightly neo‑classical English/French blend of influences shaped by his studies with Herbert Howells and Nadia Boulanger. His Globe Theatre Suite, for recorder and orchestra, neatly balances echoes of the 1599 building with a touch of tongue‑in‑cheek wit, more at home in the 1997 reconstruction. The eight short movements are consistently entertaining, with excellent recorder playing from John Turner. Think Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite or Poulenc’s Suite française (d’après Claude Gervaise) for an intimation of style.

English composer David Lyon (born in Walsall in 1938) has written across a wide range of genres, from orchestral and chamber works to theatre pieces, typically in an accessible idiom with a strong emphasis on melody, rhythm, and colour. The Piano Concerto in One Movement was completed when Lyon was still a student at the Royal College of Music but remained unperformed. In 2015, he revisited it, making changes to the orchestration, while leaving the formal structure largely intact. It is conceived in sonata form, with a cadenza at the end of the development section. This concerto struck me more by its rhythmic vitality and the luminous orchestration than its melodic invention. Overall, it is impressive and deserves to be heard, successfully bridging the line between light and concert music.

The liner notes are right to say that Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte has been arranged for almost every conceivable combination of instruments. My favourites remain the original piano version dating from 1899 and Ravel’s own orchestration made in 1910. Least appealing is the arrangement for five accordions. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by John Fox’s delicious reworking for soprano saxophone and orchestra. Although Ravel insisted that the piece carried no programme or dedication, this arrangement preserves its mood of nostalgia and elegance, but never quite crosses into mourning.

Great recording, splendid performances from all concerned and helpful liner notes makes this a rewarding disc.

The disc offers concertante miniatures with character and poise, delivered with a level of polish and skill that makes the programme both engaging and distinctive. More please!

Track Listing:
Angela Morley (1924-2009)
The Liaison (2004)
Robert Gibbs (violin), James Potter (cello)
Reverie (2004)
A Tender Mood (2004)
Geoffrey Allan (violin)
Harlequin (2004)
Verity Butler (clarinet)
Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Barry Wordsworth
Bryan Kelly (b.1934)
Concerto for two trumpets (1982)
Michael Allen, Tim Hawes (trumpets), Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Barry Wordsworth
Francis Chagrin (1905-72)
Sarabande (1952)
Alaster Bentley (oboe), Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Barry Wordsworth
Philip Spratley (b.1942)
Belvoir Suite (1977)
Carla Rees (flute), Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Barry Wordsworth
Bryan Kelly
Globe Theatre Suite (2005)
John Turner (recorder), Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Barry Wordsworth
David Lyon (b.1938)
Piano Concerto in One Movement (2015)
Alasdair Hogarth (piano), RTE Concert Orchestra/Gavin Sutherland
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) arr. John Fox (1926-2015)
Pavane for a dead infanta
Lara Jones (soprano saxophone), Sinfonia Viva/Nicholas Kok
rec. 1997-2016 at various venues: Angel Studios London, Derby Assembly Rooms, RTE Radio Centre, Dublin.
Heritage HTGCD 191

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.