Guirne Creith, Richard Arnell & Thomas Pitfield - Violin Concertos

Album review

Surely no country produced as many composers per capita as did England during the twentieth century. Indeed, one passes many George Lloyds and Havergal Brians on the way to Richard Arnell, Guirne Creith, and Thomas Pitfield, the composers highlighted here. Yet as the enterprising English label Dutton has amply demonstrated, Arnell, Creith, and Pitfield are perhaps more worthy of attention than the magniloquent Lloyd or the malevolent Brian. Following premiere recordings of Arnell stirring symphonies, Dutton here releases a disc including his Violin Concerto along with similar works by the even less well-known composers Creith and Pitfield. All three works are written in a romantic style and a conservative harmonic idiom, but all three are convincing works imbued with the character of their composers. Pitfield's 1958 Concerto Lirico is modally inflected, while Creith's 1934 Concerto in G minor is lush and sensuous. Arnell's Violin Concerto in One Movement from 1948 is sweet, original, and possibly as fine a work in the form as anything by an English composer since Elgar. Soloist Lorraine McAslan sounds wholly under the skin of the music, and with the committed support of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the redoubtable Martin Yates, she turns in persuasive accounts of all three works. Captured in rich, clear digital sound, these performances deserve to be heard by anyone who likes twentieth century English music.

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