Constant Lambert - * Pomona • ** Music for Orchestra • * Romeo and Juliet • ***King Pest

* English Chamber Orchestra, Norman Del Mar, conductor
** London Philharmonic Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth, conductor
*** Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Joly, conductor

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.215
UPC/EAN: 5020926021526
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: DDD / ADD
Number of discs: 1
Total playing time: 73.14
Price: £ 14.99 (+ postage & packing)

Tracks 1 - 21: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 22 March 1977, Producer: James Walker, Engineer: Stanley Goodall
Tracks 22, 23: Recorded at Watford, 24 August 1993, Producer: Andrew Keener, Engineer: Mark Vigars
Track 24: Recorded at Henry Wood Hall, 1 August 1989, Producer: Andrew Cornall, Engineer: John Dunkerley

Constant Lambert was a man of outstandingly wide cultural range, a man as well-informed about painting and literature as about music. For this reason his contribution to the development of what is now the Royal Ballet proved invaluable.A triumvirate composed of Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton and Lambert founded the company, then called the Vic-Wells Ballet, in 1931, and Lambert was its Musical Director and principal conductor for sixteen years. He resigned in 1947, but soon returned as Artistic Director and guest conductor. He also enjoyed a distinguished career as a conductor in the concert hall. His output as a composer was comparatively small — just over twenty mature works — but almost always of high calibre.

"This is a useful collection and presents the first modern recording of Music for Orchestra. This well packed CD has been compiled in part from the contents of a late-1970s Lyrita LP (the two ballets). In addition there are two much later recordings which for many years have lain unissued in the Lyrita vaults ... This is then a magnificent Constant Lambert collection which is required listening for anyone seeking music of emotional moment from the 1920s and 1930s ..." Rob Barnett, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review

"Most of this album is devoted to the ballet music of Constant Lambert, but all of it is very theatrical ... Lambert makes imaginative use of a large orchestra and, correspondingly, Simon Joly delivers a jeering, sardonic performance that triggers the shivers ..." Ian Lace, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review

Romeo and Juliet - A Ballet in two Tableaux (1924 - 5) Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951) 30.00
1 First Tableau - I Rondino 2.06
2 First Tableau - II Gavotte & Trio 2.08
3 First Tableau - III Scherzino 1.42
4 First Tableau - IV Siciliana 2.54
5 First Tableau - V Sonatina 2.33
6 Second Tableau - I Entracte 1.39
7 Second Tableau - II Sinfonia 2.54
8 Second Tableau - III Alla Marcia 1.51
9 Second Tableau - IV Toccata 2.31
10 Second Tableau - V Musette 2.51
11 Second Tableau - VI Burlesca 1.29
12 Second Tableau - VII Adagietto 1.59
13 Second Tableau - VIII Finale 3.23
Pomona - A Ballet in one Act (1926) Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951) 20.36
14 I Prelude 4.07
15 II Corante 2.59
16 III Pastorale 2.41
17 IV Menuetto 2.24
18 V Passacaglia 1.53
19 VI Rigadoon 0.59
20 VII Siciliana 3.39
21 VIII Marcia 1.54
Music for Orchestra (1927) Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951) 13.19
22 1st movement: Andante 5.31
23 2nd movement: Risoluto – Vivace 7.48
24 King Pest: Rondo Burlesca (Vivace ma misterioso) Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951) 9.14