The expressive immediacy of Aram Khachaturian's music, with its sensuous melodic writing, vibrant orchestration and rhythmic drive, resulted in a popularity equaled by few composers of his generation. Composed in 1936, the Piano Concerto was the work that established Khachaturian’s name. Cast in the customary three movements, it is scored for a sizable orchestra, with notable contributions from both side-drum and military drum in the percussion section. In the second movement there is also an extensive solo for a so-called ‘flexatone’; it is often put forward that Khachaturian in fact intended the part to be played on the musical saw, as it is on the present recording. Thirty years after the Concerto, the composer returned to the genre with his Concerto-Rhapsody for piano and orchestra. This time the score offers prominent roles for the xylophone, marimba and vibraphone, which contribute towards making this one of the composer’s most colorful works. The demanding solo parts are here performed by the young Jordanian-Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer, with spirited support from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Andrew Litton. Sughayer made his acclaimed début as a recording artist with an album of Khachaturian's piano works and sandwiched between the two works with orchestra he here presents the piano version of one of the composer's best loved pieces, the Masquerade Suite with its yearning opening Waltz and closing Galop.

The unjustly neglected and often dissident music of Ruth Gipps is with this album finding all the resonance it deserves by Rumon Gamba and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, having already championed many British composers from the twentieth century with their series devoted to British Tone Poems and Overtures from the British Isles. While, not surprisingly, there are echoes of the most popular composers of the time – Sibelius, Walton, and Vaughan Williams – the music is notable for its personal voice, confident conception, and vivid writing for the orchestra. Gipps herself actually felt her best works were those for orchestra. In a programme of contrasting impressions and emotions, Symphonies Nos 2 and 4, the former inspired by the Second World War, offer an approachable tuneful idiom. They are complemented by the lyrical, shorter Song for Orchestra and the early tone poem Knight in Armour, premiered at the last Night of the Proms in 1942.

Four-time BAFTA winning composer Christopher Gunning, has composed twelve symphonies as well as concertos for the piano, violin, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and guitar. Here the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Kenneth Woods, perform his eighth and ninth symphonies, recorded in Hoddinott Hall in March 2024. "Each scored for a moderatelysized orchestra (the 8th has only one trumpet and no lower brass, while the 9th adds a second trumpet, a harp, and a small percussion section) and both [grapple], in Gunning's highly individual way, with the legacy of classical symphonic form" - Richard Bratby. [9th Symphony] "I believe this piece has a strong emotional flavour but if you try and untangle the story you're going to end up with your own story - and to me, that is absolutely perfect." - Christopher Gunning. "Gunning's [...] symphonies, numerous concertos and sundry orchestral pieces are as meticulously wrought as they are powerfully conceived." - Gramophone

'When I'm composing, not only have I to create music, I must also search for the best way of putting it across. It means being on the alert the whole time; writing - then criticizing what I've written - and if it won't do, scrap it and start again - more criticism - and so on until I've done everything within my power to make the music live and flow naturally'. These insights from Grace Williams into her approach to the compositional process show her strong desire to communicate fluently and sincerely with her listeners. Also evident from this quotation is her professionalism, technical integrity and formidable capacity for self-criticism. She held herself and her art to the highest standards, withdrawing and destroying scores which failed to live up to her ideals. It can be inferred from this that she regarded the works which survived elimination as worthy of her musical legacy.

Philip Cannon's Concertino for piano and strings (1951) dates from his formative years. It was written for the Petersfield Festival, where it was premiered on 27 January 1951 by soloist Joseph Cooper, with the Petersfield Orchestra conducted by Kathleen Merritt. This lively, neo-classical piece has achieved over a thousand performances internationally. Though John Addison's Concertino for piano and orchestra is, for the most part, couched in a light-hearted language, it is the product of a serious, and unfailingly inventive, approach to keyboard and orchestral writing. Speaking of the work to Lesie Ayre of the London Evening News, the composer remarked that, 'it is a real concerto in the full sense of the word I would not be ashamed to show the work to any first-class pianist'. Francis Chagrin maintained an intensely practical and unpretentious attitude towards his own craft, observing that, 'My music is not for first performances - it is just to be played'. His Piano Concerto was first performed by soloist Franz Osborn, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer, at an SPNM Experimental Rehearsal held at the Royal College of Music on 4 February 1944. Conversation Piece by John Addison was written in 1958 to a commission from the BBC Concert Orchestra for that year's British Light Music Festival. John Addison felt that, by the late-1950s, too great a divide had opened up between serious and light music: 'Concertgoers think contemporary music is so alarmingly serious that when confronted with a mildly witty turn of phrase, they assume something has gone wrong. I remember the astonished sigh of relief when, in the course of introducing one of my chamber works, I told the audience I would not mind if they smiled'. In Conversation Piece, Addison exploits to the full his talent to amuse and divert.

Unlike his namesake Harry, Cypriani Potter did not learn his craft at Hogwarts, but with renowned British composers and then put the finishing touches to his music in Vienna - above all with Ludwig van Beethoven, who undoubtedly taught him some particularly effective tricks. In any case, there is an unmistakable magic in his works: at times it is delightful melodies, at others dramatic energy build-ups or rhythmically urgent episodes that give his music such an appeal that it is worth recording all of his surviving symphonies (nine, after all) and garnishing them with a few smaller pieces - in the present program, for example, with the Overture to Shakespeare's Tempest and with the original Concertante for piano and four strings on the popular theme La Follia, which Potter animates to a veritable outburst of temperament.

Recorded in: Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 25-26 February 1998 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Richard Smoker (Assistant)

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At the forefront of contemporary music for over six decades, Thea Musgrave is one of the leading composers of her generation. She has conducted many of her own pieces on both sides of the Atlantic. Her vividly imaginative and well-crafted scores resonate with audiences worldwide. Fellow composer Judith Weir has astutely ascribed Musgrave’s exceptionally rich and varied catalogue of works to ‘a capacity for constant self-renewal combined with a shrewd awareness of what is currently happening in musical style.’ This release features three of Musgrave’s works- Phoenix Rising (1997), Loch Ness- A Post Card from Scotland (2012), and Poets in Love (2009). Each of these works is receiving here its world premiere recording.

This recording presents first performances of four recent scores by Arlene Sierra, the American composer, now living in London. Arlene Sierra’s music packs volcanic rhythmic power into compositions that are at once atmospheric, yet possessed of inexorable forward drive. The subject matter of Sierra’s compositions is far flung, and includes East Asian studies, evolutionary biology, entomology, game theory, siege engines, and architecture, to name but a few. In recent years Sierra has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the Seattle Symphony, and both of these compositions are heard here. Sierra teaches composition at Cardiff University, Wales and the The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, led by their Principal Guest Conductor, Jac Van Steen, have played Sierra’s orchestral music more frequently than any other orchestra. Their superb performances capture the visceral quality and detail of Sierra’s virtuosic scores. - Bridge Records

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

The Welsh flautist Emily Beynon plays a selection of British flute concertos, accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Bramwell Tovey. Beynon is the Principal Flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Equally at home in front of the orchestra as in its midst, she has also performed as soloist with, amongst others, several BBC Orchestras, the Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, and the Vienna, Prague, Netherlands and English Chamber orchestras.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Recorded in: Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 4-5 January 1996 Producer(s) Mike George Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Richard Smoker (Assistant)

Also featuring the BBC National Chorus of Wales is several selections.

Brian Easdale was a prolific composer whose extensive output covered most genres, from orchestral pieces, concertos, and choral works, including a mass for the new Coventry Cathedral, to chamber compositions. However Easdale is today most well-known for his film scores, particularly The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus

Part of Chandos’ film music series with Rumon Gamba, the works on this release showcase Easdale’s career in film with music from, among others, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and The Battle of the River Plate.

In his youth, Easdale attended the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with such prominent figures as Cecil Armstrong Gibbs and Gordon Jacob, conducting with Malcolm Sargent, and organ with Arnold Goldsborough. As a jobbing musician he undertook arranging projects, working most notably on such scores by Benjamin Britten as the Soirées musicales and the Piano Concerto. He also orchestrated Britten’s On the Frontier for a production at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge in 1939, before spending much of the war in Ceylon and India working on documentaries for their governments’ film units. Returning to Britain in 1946, he was invited by the masterful film making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, to write an exotic dance for Jean Simmons to perform in their forthcoming film, Black Narcissus, and ended up composing the whole score. The film is a veritable masterpiece of melodrama with highly dramatic music to match.

The involvement of Easdale in Black Narcissus effectively launched his career in film music and led him to other projects, most notably The Red Shoes (1948) for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. This is one of the most iconoclastic films in the Pantheon of British Cinema. Given a highly atmospheric score, the film concerns a traveling ballet company and tells the story of a young hopeful ballerina, catapulted into stardom and wrestling with her love for a composer and the pull of her career. In the end it becomes too much of a fight and while on tour with the company in Monte Carlo, she leaps to her death.

The Battle of the River Plate (1956) is also worth a separate mention. A semi-documentary account of the trapping of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in Montevideo harbour, and her subsequent scuttling, the film was commercially very successful. The two movements recorded here are the Prelude (heard over the main titles and opening scene with narration) and a March, the concert version of which was created by Easdale after the film’s release.

Classical Music

"As Rumon Gamba's nicely slick performances with BBCNOW show, these are all nicely proportioned pieces...they don't deserve the total neglect they've suffered for the last three-quarters of a century." - The Guardian

Rumon Gamba and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales present a collection of rarely heard overtures from the British Isles. Among these is Sir Frederic Cowen’s The Butterfly’s Ball (1901), illustrating a popular children’s poem by William Roscoe. All is vividly evoked by Cowen’s pleasing melodic lines and delicate instrumental colour. It is easy to see why, in its day, the piece was a firm favourite, being played twenty-six times at the Proms between 1900 and 1940. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor achieved immediate success early in his career with his four-part cantata cycle collectively known as Scenes from The Song of Hiawatha. The Overture, composed in 1899, was intended as a prelude to the complete cycle but is now rarely heard in this context. Indeed, very little of the material in this Overture comes from the other Hiawatha pieces, the principal theme being the spiritual ‘Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord’. Perhaps better known as a leading baritone of his generation, Frederic Austin was also a composer of some achievement. In his tuneful and exciting concert overture The Sea Venturers, from 1936, he wanted to evoke ‘something of the lives and character of English seamen who...took peril and pleasure as it came’. - Chandos

STRAVINSKY; POULENC; LIADOV BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES; FISCHER (COND.) MUSIC FROM DIAGHILEV'S BALLET RUSSES- STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD, THE RITE OF SPRING, PETRUSHKA, SCHERZO FANTASTIQUE; LIADOV: BABA-YAGA, THE ENCHANTED LAKE. KIKIMORA; POULENC: LES BICHES

M�ty�s Seiber studied composition at the Budapest Academy of Music under Kod�ly, from 1919-1924. At the time of his tragically early death, Seiber was one of the most respected teachers of composition in Britain. Antal Dorati entered the Hungarian Royal Academy of Music in 1920, at age 14. His illustrious career as a conductor has completely overshadowed his compositions. Bartok's Viola Concerto, commissioned by the Scottish violist William Primrose, was left in sketch form at the time of the composer's death. The eventual completion by Bartok's friend Tibor Serly has been the subject of debate ever since it's first appearance in 1949.

Classical Music

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914) BBC National Orchestra of WalesThierry Fischer Stravinsky: PetrushkaLiadov: Baba-yagaLiadov: The Enchanted LakeLiadov: Kikimora

It was after hearing the premiere of Joubert’s First Symphony given by the Hull Philharmonic under Vilem Tausky in Hull City Hall on April 12, 1956 that Russian-born pianist Iso Elinson invited the composer to write him a Piano Concerto. Completed in the summer of 1958, the resulting score is dedicated to Elinson, who gave the first performance of the work with the Hallé Orchestra under George Weldon on January 11, 1959 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In keeping with Joubert’s instinctively symphonic approach to large-scale forms, the concerto is more of a sinfonia concertante than a bravura vehicle for pianistic display. The idea for a musico-dramatic work based on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre originated in the early 1980s, when the composer took early retirement from the University of Birmingham. This was a labor of love which he embarked upon unprompted and without the security of a commission. Dedicated to the opera’s librettist Kenneth Birkin and his wife Inge, Symphony No.3 on themes from the opera “Jane Eyre”, Op.178 (2014-17), reworks the five orchestral interludes as five symphonic movements. Originally written for chamber orchestral forces, the material has been re-scored by the composer for a full symphony orchestra.

Classical Music

The recordings included in this set were released separately between 2002 and 2004, and met with very positive reviews at the time. Thus the BBC Music Magazine considered Tadaaki Otaka's recording of Symphony No. 3 'a necessary instalment if you're out to collect a first-rate Glazunov cycle', elected his interpretation of the Fifth 'Benchmark recording', and called the Eighth 'the most handsome ... currently in the catalogue'. Other reviewers agreed, describing the contribution made by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as 'lively, clear-textured, and radiantly coloured' while also underlining the importance of 'the broad, deep sound picture' and the 'euphonious recording' for the success of this cycle.

Classical Music

Described as ‘one of the great new Sibelian teams’ (The Herald), Thomas Søndergård and BBC National Orchestra of Wales continue their shared fascination with the orchestral music of Sibelius. Released one month after BBC NOW celebrates its ninetieth anniversary, this recording includes many of Sibelius’ most famous masterpieces. Sibelius established his credentials early on with the tonally adventurous En saga, which brings to mind the excellence of Berlioz’ orchestral writing. Sibelius’ successful foray into the impressionistic tone world of Debussy resulted in the haunting seascape of The Oceanides. Sibelius wrote it was ‘pure inspiration’ that led to the composition of the perpetually popular Finlandia, with its world-famous hymn motif. The wonderfully descriptive Swan of Tuonela finds Sibelius at his mystical best as he casts the cor anglais as the majestic swan from Finnish mythology. Sibelius: Finlandia is a fitting finale to this Sibelius series which also includes critically acclaimed recordings of four of his symphonies.

In 1919 Stanford chose to compose a setting of the mass to commemorate the allied victory, hoping perhaps that the work might be attractive to choral societies. In terms of his music connected with the war, the Mass ‘Via Victrix 1914-1918’ Op. 173 would be his greatest and most substantial effort, and it would prove to be a canvas to equal similar large-scale choral tours de force such as his Requiem Op. 63 (1897), Te Deum Op. 66 (1898) and Stabat Mater Op. 96 (1907), all ambitiously conceived for chorus, four soloists, orchestra and organ. Bearing the adapted Latin dedication ( ‘Transiverunt per ignem et aqua et eduxisti in refrigerium’ [“(They) went through fire and water and thou has brought (them) into a wealthy place”?] taken from Psalm 66 verse 12 (from Tyndale’s translation), the work was dedicated to those who made the greatest sacrifice in defence of their country. The mass was therefore intended as a work of thanksgiving, of celebration for the final victory, but equally one which looked into the heart of the nation, to commiserate with those who grieved, to pray for those whose sense of loss was unconsolable, and to urge for a spirit of renewal in the face of the hardships and sorrows the nation had had to endure. In this sense Stanford’s work stood at the vanguard of other cathartic expressions of war grief such as John Foulds’ A World Requiem (1921), Delius’s Requiem (1914, but not performed until 1922) and Arthur Bliss’s Morning Heroes (1930). When news was made known of the unveiling of the Cenotaph and the interment of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey in October 1920, the Right Hon. Mr Justice Charles John Darling (1st Baron Darling) published a poem ‘At the Abbey Gate’ in The Times on 26 October (under the initials C.J.D.) as part of a larger article ‘To the Unknown Dead’ announcing the special nature of the ceremony on 11 November. Through a desire to commemorate this major national occasion, Stanford decided to set Darling’s poem as a march for chorus, solo baritone and orchestra. At the Abbey Gate Op. 177 was completed in November 1920 in the days following the great national ceremony.

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REVIEWS:

Rescued from obscurity nearly a century after its composition, Stanford’s large-scale post-war mass is definitely worth checking out. Impassioned performances here.

– BBC Music Magazine

Symphonically paced and nuanced in its construction, Stanford’s Mass receives an impressive reading from Adrian Partington, his four soloists, and the wonderful voices of the BBC National Chorus of Wales with BBC NOW. Thanks to the editorial work and tireless advocacy of Stanford scholar Jeremy Dibble, this CD again makes available an important British choral work that has lain largely forgotten for over a century.

– Choir & Organ

Classical Music

BLOCH Voice in the Wilderness. Schelomo. CAPLET Épiphanie. RAVEL 2 Mélodies hébraïques: Kaddisch (arr. Ravel) • Raphael Wallfisch (vc); Benjamin Wallfisch, cond; BBC Natl O of Wales • NIMBUS 5913 (75:13)


This album holds deep personal significance for the performers. In a video interview released in promotion of it, Raphael Wallfisch discusses his conception of the program as a memorial to his family, particularly his four grandparents, who perished in the Holocaust. Having engaged his son, Benjamin, to conduct the recording, Wallfisch views it as both a musical and a familial statement. Additionally, Wallfisch emphasizes the vivid “cinematic” drama of the Bloch pieces, for which he considered his son’s close involvement with film music to be a natural fit.


Given these factors, it is not surprising that the Wallfisches’ performances on this disc are rhapsodic and dramatic. And that is what this music demands. The two Bloch pieces, when played well, can be shattering experiences for the listener: unremittingly grim, with the cello as tormented protagonist. The Ravel Kaddisch , based on a traditional cantorial melody, captures the outermost depths of reverence and mourning. And Caplet’s rarely-performed Épiphanie is an ecstatic portrayal of an Ethiopian telling of the Adoration of the Magi. There is no moderation of emotion in these works; this is music to captivate, move, and overwhelm the listener.


Bloch’s Voices in the Wilderness was written in 1936, a period during which he produced some of his most substantial works. (The Sacred Service was composed in 1933 and the piano sonata in 1935.) It was originally conceived for cello and piano, and was reworked for piano solo as Visions and Prophecies , which presents the orchestral expositions to the first five pieces. Familiarity with both versions provides an intriguing contrast; the role of the cello in Voices in the Wilderness is one of commentator on the orchestral material presented in the first half of each movement. As evidenced by Visions and Prophecies , this material can succeed on its own; it is not simply introductory but traces a complete musical arc. Is the cello response therefore redundant? Some movements work better than others. The second, for example, is atmospheric and pensive in the orchestral section. It ends with an upward, questioning melodic gesture. Left here in the Visions and Prophecies , the question lingers enigmatically. In Voices in the Wilderness , the cello begins its response with outraged scales. The orchestral accompaniment thickens and becomes more dissonant. In this movement, the second half constitutes a reassessment of the ideas presented in the first half rather than simply an elaboration of them. The third movement’s exposition, majestic with vivid coloration unavailable to a solo piano, feels like a public statement of triumph and benefits from the individual perspective offered by the cello response; moreover, it is brief enough that its restatement is not unwelcome. But the foreboding first movement achieves its full emotional impact and reaches a convincing full stop before the cello entrance, as does the idyllic fourth movement. Finally, the coda to the fifth movement ends in such eloquent silence as to render the boisterous sixth movement almost disruptive. Qualms about the composition’s structure aside, Wallfisch’s playing exhibits an impressive range of emotion, texture, and color. His cadenza in the fifth movement is especially effective in its bold, emphatic statements and its relentless build.


Ravel’s Kaddisch was composed in 1914 for piano and voice as one of the 2 Mélodies hébraïques . Ravel orchestrated both songs in 1919–20. Wallfisch’s approach to the melody is appropriately improvisatory in its fluctuations of tempo and sudden shifts of dynamics. He even produces some strikingly vocal portamentos. But without the words, much of the emotional impact of the piece is lost. This is not simply because of the profundity of the text; rather, the articulation of specific consonants and vowels has a timbral effect that cannot be replicated instrumentally. Additionally, the orchestration obscures the insistent treble octaves that provide the focal point of the original piano accompaniment. Ravel was a masterful orchestrator, and this version of the Kaddisch is musically pleasing, but it does not have the impact of the original.


André Caplet’s Épiphanie has been recorded only a handful of times—inexplicably for such an accessible and attractive work, and one that offers the soloist a true virtuoso spectacle. The piece is in two large movements connected by an extended solo cadenza. Though subtitled “Musical Fresco after an Ethiopian Legend,” the first movement is solidly in the sound world of Impressionism—perhaps closer to Roussel than to Debussy in its harmonic palette. The feeling is sunny and ingratiating throughout. The cello part features extended pizzicato passages and frequent harmonics. The cadenza is accompanied by a pedal tone in the double basses and by a quiet, steady drumbeat, which the program notes identify as “a characteristically Ethiopian element.” The cadenza itself sounds fairly European, despite some pentatonic material and occasional uses of the Semitic scale. This is not a complaint; the music is impassioned and colorful, and Wallfisch’s playing is commanding. The second movement, the “Danse des Petits Negrès,” takes a more exotic tone with a rapid, heavily-accented 5/4 meter and a repeated whirling motif in the cello. Brief musical phrases, repeated in groups of two, create a “primitive” effect. The constant repetition becomes predictable, and the Orientalist subtext is highly dated. But the movement is generally exciting, especially in its final pages.


Bloch’s Schelomo is the most widely-performed work on the disc. It is here that the Wallfisches are most open to comparison. Were I not familiar with the Rostropovich/Bernstein recording of the piece, I would be unreserved in my praise of the current performance. And indeed, it is a very fine performance: imposing, brooding, and highly effective. But where Wallfisch rages, Rostropovich thunders. Where Wallfisch sobs, Rostropovich wails. The same can be said of the conducting: Wallfisch’s Schelomo is dramatic but does not quite achieve the gripping immediacy of Bernstein’s. It is nonetheless a vivid and moving rendition of the piece, and the disc as a whole makes for very rewarding listening. Excellent, vivid sound engineering is a welcome bonus.


FANFARE: Myron Silberstein

For the five works on this disc, Ginastera drew upon Argentine and other Meso- and South American subjects. Evocative of native influences, the life of the gaucho on the pampas, and influenced by the music of his time, they span the composer’s entire creative life, from his first acknowledged work, the ballet score Panambí, and the Inca-inspired Ollantay, to the Mayan mythological compendium Popol Vuh, which occupied him for about eight years and remained unfinished. These exciting, richly orchestrated works abound in the beauty and energy of dance.