Dohnányi's works are characterized by their fluency, rich sense of harmony, and mastery of instrumentation and form. Dohnányi expressed his romantic hertiage in the perfect forms of the eighteenth century, which he used as a framework for his highly vivacious and lyrical music. Thsi does not mean the he simply produced replicas; rather, he succeeded in combining classical form with the Lisztian concpet of motifs being developed and binding together a large-scale work. Recorded in: New Broadcasting House, Manchester 12-14 September 2001 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Mike George Sound Engineer(s) Stephen Rinker Christopher Brooke (Assistant)

Cyril Scott was an artists of immense standing amongst his contemporaries. Debussy wrote of him, 'Cyril Scottt is one of the rarest artists of the present generation...' and Elgar acknowledged Scott's influence in his treatment of harmony. Scott failed to receive attention after the First World War for he did not connnect with the msuical establishment as it developed. His posthumous lack of popularity is unfathonable as his music has a personality and integrity which demand, nearly half a century on, that we revisit it. This release places Scott's early masterpiece, the first Piano Concerto, alongside one of the larger orchestral works composed after the Second World War. Performed here by Howard Shelley, the large scale Piano Concerto was composed immediately before the First World War and premiered by Scott himself, with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of his friend Sir Thomas Beecham. Scott's static and exotic harmony, and his use of ostinati, repeated motifs, exotic orchestral colours and the bell-like effect of repeated fourths lend the work an oriental sound world. Scott himself said about it: 'It's as if Scarlatti had lived in China'. Symphony No.4 was completed in 1952 but has not been performed until now and with this release receives its world premiere recording. Clearly influenced by Ravel and Debussy, particularly at the climax points, Scott composes melodic lines that are richly chromatic, and his orchestration is colourful and constantly changing. This work is coupled with 'Early One Morning', a single-movement 'Poem' for piano and orchestra.

The fact that these works have, until now, remained unrecorded perhaps bears witness to the fact that the discrimination confronted by Alice Mary Smith over a hundred years ago has still not been entirely eradicated. Smith wrote by far the greatest number of orchestral works of any ninteenth-century British woman composer and the success of her orchestral and choral works gave rise to a heated discussion as to whether a woman could ever compose a work of greatness. Her finely crafted and inventive music is the story of a wife and mother battling against prejudice and, in the eyes of her contemporaries at least, succeeding.

Each recording in this 40-disc set has been selected by Chandos Managing Director, Ralph Couzens, son of the label founder, because it represents a turning point, or ‘Landmark’, in the development of the label.

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Founded by Brian Couzens in 1979, Chandos quickly established itself as one of the world’s leading classical labels. The ‘Chandos Sound’ has become a benchmark for quality, renowned alike among artists and critics around the globe.

From its inception, Chandos has specialised in recording British music, and in bringing lesser-known (and unknown) music to public attention. Released to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the label, this handsomely packaged 40-disc set comprises 40 complete recordings from Chandos’ extensive catalogue.

Each of the four decades is represented, and each recording has been hand-picked by the Managing Director, Ralph Couzens, because it represents a turning point, or ‘Landmark’, in the development of the label.

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Excerpts from select reviews of previously released volumes included in this set:

Prokofiev: Symphony No 6, Waltzes Suite, Etc. / Järvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra - NLA


This 1984 recording put the somewhat neglected Sixth Symphony of Prokofiev back on the musical map; it remains on balance the finest available.

– ClassicsToday.com

Vaughan Williams: London Symphony; Butterworth: Banks of Green Willow / Hickox, LSO

Conductor and orchestra respond with an unquenchable spirit, generous flexibility and tender affection that suit VW’s admirably ambitious inspiration to a T, and Chandos’s sound is big and bold to match. Quite simply, an essential purchase for anyone remotely interested in British music.

– Gramophone

Ravel, Debussy & Massenet / Bavouzet, Tortelier, BBC Symphony

Bavouzet gets the tempo changes in Ravel's G Major Concerto absolutely right, following up with one of the most songfully flowing and elegantly shaped accounts of the Adagio on disc, and concluding with an absolutely scorching finale. The Massenet encores are both novel and delightful.

– ClassicsToday.com

Recorded in: Wessex Hall, Poole Arts Centre Recorded in: Winter Gardens, Bournemouth Recorded 1992 -1994 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Richard Smoker (Assistant: Piano Concerto; Praeludium) Ben Connellan (Assistant: Fantasia on a Theme of Handel) Richard Lee (Assistant: other works)

March's Disc of the Month sees Howard Shelley, recently awarded an OBE for his services to music, conduct the Orchestra of Opera North from the piano. In this his latest recording for Chandos Shelley turns his attention to three popular concertos in the piano repertoire: Robert Schumann's only completed piano concerto, Grieg's single piano concerto and Saint- Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor. These authoritative performances shed new light on three wellloved works, brought together on one disc for the first time. Shelley elucidates his revelatory approach to the works: 'Ever since I first fell in love with Schumann's Piano Concerto in my early teens, I have been intrigued and slightly puzzled by the tradition of slowing the fourth bar of the Allegro affettuoso first movement to what is effectively no more than an Andante, even though there is no indication of any tempo shift in the score. A metronome marking of 84 to the minim, taken from Schumann's manuscript, is given in almost all editions of this work, reducing only to 72 to the dotted minim for the central Andante espressivo section. These are extraordinarily fast basic tempos. There are similar issues in the second movement - a surprisingly fast metronome mark, suggesting perhaps a lighter lyricism than we are sometimes used to, especially in the big cello melody - and also in the first movement of Saint-Saëns's Second Concerto, which is often taken at about half its marked speed. As for Grieg's Concerto, we are fortunate to have Percy Grainger's very informative and detailed notes on the piece, as he discussed it with the composer. Elsewhere he points out that Grieg's tempos were generally faster than when others played the piece. These are some of the considerations which have led to the interpretations on this recording. Directing a highly responsive orchestra from the keyboard has also allowed me great freedom in realising my ideas.'

Cramer was a virtuoso pianist and composer of German origin who lived mostly in London. A pupil of Clementi and friend of Beethoven, he is best known for his piano studies. He founded the publishing company J.B. Cramer & Co. which still exists today. This is the only available recording of these works. Recorded in: St Silas The Martyr, Kentish Town, London 29 & 30 January 2002 Producer(s) Rachel Smith Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper Michael Common (Assistant)

Howard Shelley and the London Mozart Players present the latest in his series of Hummel works for Chandos and on this occasion shows a less-known side to Hummel's compositional style: that of dance-composer. All three works receive their premiere recordings with this release.

Howard Shelley and the London Mozart Players, one of the UK's most distinguished chamber orchestras, have recorded many works by Hummel. Chandos has been renowned for championing Hummel's music since the premiere recordings of his piano concertos in 1987 received the Gramophone 'concerto' award. The company's exposure of this increasingly admired composer has ensured that he is finally beginning to enjoy the popularity he deserves. 'Shelley...is outstanding in this music, synthesizing the classical and romantic elements perfectly. A natural Mozartian, he allies his poise and clarity to a fearless technique, and absorbs Hummel's most ostentatious demands into the musical fabric, giving the decorative solo part the necessary grace and piquancy.' - Gramophone 'Critics Choice' of January 2000 on CHAN9867 (Hummel)

Tying in with the 100-year anniversary in 2013 of the composer’s birth, we here present two such works, performed by the BBC Philharmonic under Edward Gardner with Chandos stars Tasmin Little and Howard Shelley. The Violin Concerto, here performed dazzlingly by Little, is essentially tragic and weighty in tone, perhaps reflecting his growing concern with the escalation of war-related hostilities. Under Shelley’s fingers the Piano Concerto – in a rare recording with the original third movement, “Recitative and Aria” – is generally lighter and brighter, more transparent and simpler in style.