Glière left his Violin Concerto unfinished when he died in 1956, and it was completed by his one-time pupil Lyatoshinsky. The booklet-note writer describes it as ‘astonishingly original’: actually, it’s a thoroughly professional work in the late-Romantic style, with echoes of Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rachmaninov and, at one point, Ravel’s Tzigane. There are sweet melodies, lush harmonies and opportunities for the soloist to show off her technique, which she does with great expertise, and it’s an enjoyable 17-and-a-half minutes. Much more authentic, in the sense of belonging to its time, is the Second Symphony of 1907. There’s greater urgency in the themes, and this seems to communicate itself to Butt and the Philharmonia, who bring tension and controlled phrasing to the dramatic first movement, even if there are a few too many bars whose purpose seems only to get from one place to another. The fleet-footed scherzo has a sustained middle section, but the real lyricism comes in the Andante, based on a Russian peasant song, where there is some intense and soulful playing from the strings, interrupted by outbreaks of a sort of rustic jollity, which takes over almost completely in the finale. It’s a reminder of a lost world.

-- Martin Cotton, BBC Music Magazine