Ned Bigham is a Scottish composer new to me, who eschews serialism and dissonant modernity, although he does not shirk moments of dissonance. Yet his natural melodic writing immediately communicates and frequently moves the listener. His career has covered orchestral, ambient electronica and popular music. He studied composition at Trinity College of Music, including jazz arranging.

Since leaving Trinity, he has centred his career on writing for orchestra and, as we immediately discover here, he has a striking flair for subtle orchestral colouring. This is the release of his first ‘classical’ CD, music inspired by or derived from Scottish folk ballads. But the collection is planned and structured as a whole, and is framed by the title-piece, Culebra. This is in two sections, which are based on a rocking chorale, made up of two sets of memorable chords, which both echo and overlap each other, and move from pianissimo to climax, and then return to a feeling of peace. They are dedicated to the composer’s late father and are sensitively played by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra directed by Gregory Rose.

Four delightfully scored evocations of the Scottish Highlands are played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with the same conductor, and the equally engaging arrangements of a group of five Scottish ballads, written by the composer’s Scottish ancestor, Lady Nairne, are given to the Scottish Ensemble. These include ‘The Auld Hoose’, ‘Caller Herrin’’ (with its cello soliloquy and pizzicatos) and the cheerful ‘The 100 Pipers’, with the solo fiddle sounding for all the world like bagpipes. The melancholy ‘Will he no come back again’ is given to the strings, like the meltingly lovely ‘The Rowan Tree’.

Culebra is an island and wildlife sanctuary in Puerto Rico. Can any reader suggest why this was chosen as the title of this collection? No information is provided in the booklet.