Violin Concerto / Miss Julie Suite / etc

"Lloyd-Jones and McAslan give admirable shape to the long, rhapsodic first movement...[the] technically demanding finale is performed with agile warmth by McAslan whose attractive tone and expressive style seem entirely in tune with this distinctive musical language. It is good to hear the suite of pieces from Alwyn's last completed opera, Miss Julie...A recording that fuels one's desire to hear the entire opera properly and professionally staged."
(Editor's Choice Gramophone June 2011)

"It's couched in an unashamedly late-Romantic idiom, and if it has a model at all, it is Elgar's violin concerto, with which it shares a mood of autumnal wistfulness in its long opening movement...Lloyd-Jones shapes it with great affection and the soloist Lorraine McAslan seems utterly authoritative; their performance suggests the concerto does deserve to be heard in a concert hall soon."
(Guardian)

"this recording calls attention to the music's beguilingly romantic heart and to Alwyn's ability to make the violin sing. Beautifully played by Lorraine McAslan, the concerto also benefits from the support of the RLPO under David Lloyd-Jones."
(Daily Telegraph)

Naxos's many highly-praised recordings of William Alwyn's music have done much to revive excitement among today's listeners for this British composer who is best known for his 200 or so film scores.

Alwyn's bravura Violin Concerto, the second and most substantial of his six concertos, is romantic and rhapsodic in nature. The Miss Julie Suite takes episodes from his last completed opera based on Strindberg's tragic play, while the Fanfare for a Joyful Occasion pays tribute to the late percussionist James Blades.

Juilliard School-trained violinist Lorraine McAslan has been praised by The Strad as "one of the most distinguished British violinists of her generation".