Notes and Editorial Reviews
Oliver Knussen is a serious record collector, and a Stokowski nut, so he should feel at home here. His brief, attractive Violin Concerto (written for Zukerman in 2002) again shows that he is the current British composer who knows how to orchestrate and keep things moving. Leila Josefowicz is intense, passionate, strong, and accurate; she always is. Knussen compares the soloist’s role here to a tightrope walker. The music’s a bit like that too. It does not stray far, melodically, from some dominant repeated tones, starting and ending with a high E. The concerto improves on repeated listening. Knussen’s a damned fine conductor too. I thought the BBC SO sounded better under him than with others in recent years.
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...Watkins is virtuosic and very articulate in the Elgar Concerto... I heard the first performance of the Tippett “Triple” Concerto in 1980. Critics liked it because Sir Michael seemed to have gone tuneful again after a spiky decade. The work now sounds indebted to Britten. I still love it, and this is quite a good performance... At the end, some good singing: foursquare, tonal, and passionate settings of Thomas Campion, composed in 2007. Richard Rodney Bennett’s work here reminded me of John Harbison.
Paul Ingram, FANFARE [7/2008]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Cello in E minor, Op. 85 by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Paul Watkins (Cello)
Conductor:
Jiri Belohlávek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1919; England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 26 Minutes 49 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
2.
Peter Grimes: Sea Interludes (4), Op. 33a by Benjamin Britten
Conductor:
Jiri Belohlávek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944-1945; England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 16 Minutes 21 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
3.
A Song of Summer by Frederick Delius
Conductor:
Jiri Belohlávek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1929-1930; France
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 10 Minutes 8 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
4.
Concerto for Violin, Op. 30 by Oliver Knussen
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Conductor:
Oliver Knussen
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 2002; England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 16 Minutes 21 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
5.
Concerto for Violin, Viola and Cello by Michael Tippett
Performer:
Christian Poltera (Cello),
Philip Dukes (Viola),
Daniel Hope (Violin)
Conductor:
Sir Andrew Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1979; England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 31 Minutes 15 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
6.
Poems (4) of Thomas Campion by Richard Rodney Bennett
Conductor:
Stephen Jackson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Chorus
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 12 Minutes 45 Secs.
Language: English
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
7.
Portsmouth Point by Sir William Walton
Conductor:
Jiri Belohlávek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1925; England
Venue: Live BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall
Length: 6 Minutes 2 Secs.
Notes: BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall (07/13/2007 - 09/08/2007)
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 
( 1 Customer Review )
Disappointing English music August 26, 2012
By JOHN H G. (Vineyard Haven, MA) See All My Reviews
"I had hoped for an update of "The Last Night at the Proms" with Sir Colin Davis, an older CD that I have and is a lovely romp of an audience of Brits having a great time singing things Totally British. Instead, this CD, despite a few brighter spots, consists mostly of unexciting and dreary titles which I'm sure appeal to some, but not to me. If one excludes Handel as being German, except for Ralph Vaughn Willians and Sullivan (when he wasn't taking himself too seriously), the last great and enjoyable English composer was Henry Purcell."
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