Berkeley, L & M Orchestral Works
Vol 4 in this superb family series shows no diminution in musical excellence
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Michael Berkeley
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN10167
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra |
Michael Berkeley, Composer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales Michael Berkeley, Composer Richard Hickox, Conductor Thomas Trotter, Organ |
Voices of the Night |
Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer Richard Hickox, Conductor |
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra |
Michael Berkeley, Composer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales Michael Berkeley, Composer Paul Silverthorne, Viola Richard Hickox, Conductor |
Symphony No 2 |
Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer
BBC National Orchestra of Wales Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer Richard Hickox, Conductor |
Author: Peter Dickinson
This magnificent series devoted to the two Berkeleys continues, with operas and solo piano music still to come. Three out of four works here are first recordings and as in the previous three volumes (12/02, 8/03) there are revelations, with Richard Hickox as the ideal interpreter in every way.The focus was naturally on Lennox Berkeley during his centenary year but this time the primary impact comes from his son Michael whose approach to the late-20th-century concerto seems absolutely logical and personal. There is no vacuous showing-off for the soloist and there are no obvious, applause-grabbing perorations. Instead, the discourse unfolds like the plot of an enthralling novel, framed in the Organ Concerto (1987) by three spectral close-knit trumpets. The soloist enters unobtrusively but has a significant contribution to make as the texture becomes increasingly dense and tension mounts to high drama. Thrilling climactic clusters thin to monody and there are eloquent quotations from his own earlier Easter Motet after an episode for hushed strings.A similar approach works equally well in the Viola Concerto (1994); the soft beginnings and endings of both concertos are haunted by tubular bells. Again there is nothing predictable about the design as climaxes build with calculated intensity around the fascinatingly varied and lyrical adventures of the soloist.Lennox Berkeley’s Second Symphony (1958 and, apart from the slow movement, extensively revised in 1976) is the most elusive of his four but amply repays repeated hearings. It lacks the exuberance of the First, the taut concentration of the Third or the expansiveness of the Fourth but has its own individuality, which Hickox understands completely; he also neatly captures the atmospheric Voices of the Night. Fine soloists, documentation and recording.
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