This is a refreshingly unusual Britten selection on disc. Canadian Carnival is not a major piece and is heavily influenced by Copland, but it has that youthful insouciance characteristic of so much early 1940s Britten. Rattle's deleted EMI version (1/83) was brighter and broader than this new one by Steuart Bedford and the English Chamber Orchestra, in which the sound is oddly recessed for a Snape Maltings recording. Bedford makes rather more of the lyrical episodes and of the delightful flirtation with the French-Canadian folk-tune Alouette.
Mont Juic, a suite of Catalan dances, is that rarity a joint composition, the first two movements being by Lennox Berkeley, the last two by Britten. Why is it so seldom heard? Such an attractive short work, tuneful, witty and colourful, with a serious touch in the ''Lament'', ought to be welcomed by orchestras anxious to vary their repertoire. Bedford and the ECO give it a most appealing performance.
The Violin Concerto has lately come into its own. Lorraine McAslan plays it technically better than either Lubotsky, who recorded it with Britten for Decca, or Gutnikov, whose recent version with the Leningrad Philharmonic on Olympia/Target fails to penetrate beneath the actual notes. McAslan and Bedford are more leisurely, stressing the tragic shadow (the Spanish Civil War) which overhangs the music and achieving a most moving performance of the final Passacaglia, when McAslan's playing has all the vibrant passion, allied to consummate musicianship, which make Ida Haendel's interpretation of this fine work on EMI (5/78—nla) so memorable.
The recorded balance between soloist and orchestra is excellent and the recording also brings out clearly such strangely scored passages as that for tuba and two piccolos (shades of Berlioz!). I recommend this disc wholeheartedly and eagerly await McAslan in the Elgar and Walton concertos.'