Composer: William Alwyn
Performer: Howard Shelley
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN9196
Release: 1993
Size: 289 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Symphony No. 5 ‘Hydriotaphia’
01. I. Moderato – Allegro ma non troppo
02. II. Andante sostenuto
03. III. Allegro con fuoco
04. IV. Tempo di marcia funebre
Sinfonietta for Strings
05. I. Moderato molto ritmico
06. II. Adagio e poco rubato
07. III. Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 2 (1960)
08. I. Allegro
09. II. Andante
10. III. Allegro con fuoco
Piano Concerto No 2 opens heroically and contains a good deal of rhetoric, yet the string writing has a romantic sweep and the Andante proves to be the highlight of the piece.
Howard Shelley plays with bravura and appealing sensitivity. The Fifth Symphony is a cogent argument distilled into one movement with four sub-sections. The energetically kaleidoscopic first section is sharply contrasted by a melancholy Andante. A violent Scherzo is followed by a curiously ambivalent finale which provides a moving and compelling, if equivocal, apotheosis. The richly expansive Sinfonietta, almost twice as long as the symphony, is very much in the English tradition of string writing. It’s vigorous in the first movement and hauntingly atmospheric in the beautiful but disconsolate Adagio. The unpredictable finale begins impulsively before the mood changes completely and becomes altogether more subdued and muted in feeling.
The obviously dedicated LSO is particularly responsive in the masterly Sinfonietta.