ARNOLD

 

Cello Concerto, Symphony for Strings, Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet

 

Includes World Première Recordings:

Cello Concerto, Op. 136  

Concertino for Flute and Strings, Op. 19a

Saxophone Concerto

 

Raphael Wallfisch, cello  

Northern Chamber Orchestra / Nicholas Ward

John Turner, recorder

Manchester Sinfonia / Richard Howarth

 

Sir Malcolm Arnold’s preference for classical forms is fully explored in this representative but uniquely distinctive programme. Orchestrations of earlier works form the lyrical Concertino for Flute and Strings and a Saxophone Concerto whose bold statements foreshadow the gritty and powerful Symphony for Strings. Arnold’s virtuoso Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet is a late work, and the Cello Concerto was the composer’s last in this form; a piece which speaks directly from the soul, appearing here in its première recording.

 

This release brings the première recording of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Cello Concerto, and there is also no competition in the current CD catalogue for his Saxophone Concerto, the Symphony for Strings or the Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet.

 

Naxos 8572640