Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5 – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & John Wilson

John Wilson’s series of orchestral works by his mentor and friend Sir Richard Rodney Bennett reaches Vol. 5, featuring three works composed between 1973 1989.

The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned at the instigation of Brian Priestman, the British chief conductor of the Denver SO. Its 3-mvt structure, closing with a dazzling set of variations, displays the modern orchestra as a virtuoso body of players.

His rarely performed cello concerto Sonnets to Orpheus forms the centrepiece of the programme. Originally commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival, it was written at a crisis-point in the composer’s life, as Bennett split with his partner and left the UK for NY, where he would spend the rest of his life. This recording features the acclaimed cellist Jonathan Aasgaard, principal cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Sinfonia of London.

Diversions was a commission from the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Schools, to celebrate their tercentenary, in 1990. It was first played by the combined orchestras of all seven schools at a celebratory concert in the Royal Festival Hall and the finished work is an exuberantly colourful set of symphonic variations on the Scottish folksong ‘Whistle and I’ll come to you, my lad’.