I feel more at home, even so, with the two intervening pieces, especially Nocturnes and Cadenzas, an ideal work to try if you want to find out whether Hoddinott is for you: its three nocturnes (darkly glinting and calmly peaceful on either side of what I hear as a storm-nocturne with a hush at its centre) are finely coloured and quite characteristic, and the linking cadenzas have both clear structural function and expressive weight. The Concertino for viola has a particularly eloquent finale (no doubt significantly it is an early example of Hoddinott's use of an arch-like form) and both of these concertante pieces are extremely well played. So are the others (how fortunate Hoddinott has been in his soloists), and the recordings still sound well.

Gramophone [2/1997]