William Alwyn - Derby Day • The Magic Island • Four Elizabethan Dances • Sinfonietta for Strings • Festival March

London Philharmonic Orchestra
William Alwyn, conductor

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 1992 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.229
UPC/EAN: 5020926022929
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: ADD
Number of discs: 1
Total playing time: 64.06
Price: Ł 14.99 (+ postage & packing)

Track 1: Recorded at Walthamstow, 3 January 1974
Tracks 2: Recorded at Watford, 29 February 1972, Producer: David Harvey, Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Tracks 3 - 6, 10: No recording information available
Tracks 7 - 9: Recorded at Walthamstow, 27 November 1974, Producer: James Walker, Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson

"Following up the welcome reissue of all five of Alwyn’s symphonies, come these two discs of shorter pieces, again with the composer a most persuasive interpreter. Alwyn himself with fair justice counted [Lyra Angelica] his most beautiful work … and Osian Ellis on the harp is second to none. Much the biggest work on the second disc is the Sinfonietta of 1970 … the central Adagio is among the most tenderly beautiful of Alwyn’s inspirations, the more touching for its restraint. There and throughout both these discs Alwyn’s technical mastery and his ability to conceal ingenuity make for consistently strong, immediate music-making. It is most welcome to have his on interpretations restored to the catalogue" Edward Greenfield, Gramophone

"This excellent disc provides a rewarding conspectus of William Alwyn’s output. Opening in the most ebullient fashion imaginable with the rhythmic drive of the Derby Day overture (a BBC commission). Inspired by an 1858 painting by William Powell Frith (1819-1909), listening to it, it is hard to credit that it makes use of the composer’s ‘personal conception of 12-note technique’ (the composer). It is no easy piece and the performance here is stunning ..." Colin Clarke, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review