A colleague of mine once described Walter Piston as the American Albert Roussel. The comparison befits Piston’s neoclassical orientation and concern for neatness, clarity and precise thinking, and characterises the works assembled for this release, which features the first recording of Piston’s 1933 Concerto for Orchestra.

In the first-movement march, one can relate Piston’s use of melodic lines in fourths to Hindemith’s 1925 Concerto for Orchestra, yet the robust string-writing, churning rhythms and alternating solo/tutti textures evoke another 1925 masterpiece, Bloch’s Concerto grosso No 1. The ebullient central scherzo’s vividly varied instrumentation, jazzy chromatic motifs and chordal punctuations, however, wouldn’t be out of place in a Malcolm Arnold symphony – and notice the evocative, otherworldly and rather unexpected impact of the coda’s pianissimo divided strings. I like the third movement’s hauntingly sustained opening passacaglia more than the faster yet arguably less inspired fugal writing that transpires afterwards.

Piston’s 1963 Variations on a theme by his one-time teacher Edward Burlingame Hill also receives its first recording, and is noteworthy for Sarah Brady’s gorgeous, shapely renditions of the principal flute solos. The 1946 Divertimento for Nine Instruments remains one of Piston’s most inventive works; I love the composer’s debonair and witty appropriation of Stravinskian mixed metres, as well the performance’s overall lightness and sparkle.

The 1957 Clarinet Concerto’s four brief movements are linked by cadenzas and convey a variety of moods with the utmost concision, and chamber-like repartee between soloist and ensemble that ranges from playful to combative. The words ‘neatness’ and ‘precision’ come up again in regard to clarinettist Michael Norsworthy’s attention to articulation and phrasing, and conductor Gil Rose’s expertly dovetailed support throughout. That said, I prefer the less perfect yet more urgent, dynamically varied and songfully inflected archive recording featuring the legendary American clarinettist Harold Wright with the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston under Max Hobart (available to download from Soundset). Mark DeVoto’s intelligent annotations are worthy of the composer’s pristine craftsmanship, not to mention the usual Gil Rose/BMOP standard of excellence.