If you like lush, Romantic
music, look no further. This is a magnificent,
accessible concerto from the composer of the
music for the highly successful animated film
of The Snowman. It is the sort of music
that any film producer would give his eye
teeth for - dramatic, heroic, atmospheric
and lyrical with beautiful soaring melodies
but above all it is resolutely tonal. It was
commissioned by Leeds City Council for the
Leeds 1993 City Centenary, hence its title,
although judging from Howard Blake's own CD
booklet notes, there is no programme. It is
absolute music to be enjoyed in its own right;
nonethless, one is occasionally tempted to
guess at some extra musical influence - for
instance, the a robust passage for brass in
the lengthy first movement that might describe
the forthright but dependable Yorkshire personality.
Christiane Edinger rises, with aplomb, to
its technical challenges, especially in the
bravura third movement with its quadruple
stoppings, pizzicati and dazzling broken chords.
Daniels provides a thrilling and sensitive
accompaniment. The sound throughout this programme
is excellent.
Violin
Concerto - "The Leeds" (1992)
Violin Concerto: 1st Movement Allegro Assai
excerpt
1 excerpt
2
Violin Concerto: 2nd Movement Adagio (Calma)
excerpt
Violin Concerto: 3rd Movement Allegro con
brio excerpt
For the 1986 Euston Films/Channel
4 film A Month in the Country, Blake
wrote a sympathetic score which ideally suited
this story of two former soldiers coming to
terms with the horrors of the Great War amidst
the serenity of the English countryside. This
suite for strings contrasts lyrical, pastoral
music recalling Warlock, Vaughan Williams,
Delius and Finzi (yet never swamping Blake's
own melodic style) with other movements suggesting
soldiers' trudging marching figures, and the
despair and waste of war.
A
Month in the Country - Suite for Strings (1986/1993)
A Month in the Country: Larghetto excerpt
A Month in the Country: Alla Marcia
A Month in the Country: Adagio (Elegy)
excerpt
A Month in the Country: Scherzando
A Month in the Country: Andante espressivo
excerpt
The Sinfonietta for brass
instruments (1981) is a brilliant and
colourful work with an imposing Maestoso first
movment, a techically innovative and demanding
Andante and a vivacous Presto.
Sinfonietta
- for ten brass instruments
(1981)
Sinfonietta:
Maestoso excerpt
Sinfonietta: Andante serioso excerpt
Sinfonietta: Presto excerpt
Sinfonietta: Maestoso - Allegro ritmico
excerpt
Recommended
Reviewer
Ian Lace
(CD cover shows the
Victoria Town Hall, Leeds)
. Christiane Edinger (violin)
English Northern Philharmonia
conducted by Paul Daniel