MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Creith/Arnell/Pitfield: Violin Concertos

"Lorraine McAslan triumphs again in these unknown violin concertos. We must be grateful for her fine judgement in learning these works and in projecting them with such overwhelming confidence. She treats them as they deserve - as if they belonged in company with the conventional greats of the repertoire."
(Recording of the Month MusicWeb April 2009)

In an earlier Dutton Epoch recording of York Bowen's Violin Concerto (CDLX 7169), one critic compared Lorraine McAslan's playing with that of Heifetz, and here in three little-known violin concertos she again presents performances of such eloquence that one immediately wonders why the pieces have not been performed. Dutton Epoch's revelatory Arnell series continues with McAslan's gripping reading of Arnell's substantial Concerto in One Movement, Op.9, music preceding Samuel Barber's Concerto by two years but clearly celebrating the same world. Guirne Creith's lyrical and engaging Violin Concerto was played by Albert Sammons in the 1930s, but the music has long been lost and its discovery by her family has given us the opportunity to hear it again. Manchester-born Thomas Pitfield wrote his tuneful Concerto Lirico when it was not OK to be so heart-on-sleeve. A remarkable group strongly directed by Martin Yates.