Arnold: Cello Concerto / Saxophone Concerto / Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet / etc

"Malcolm Arnold was a magus of the orchestra. That can be observed in his symphonies, concertos and overtures/dances. He was very productive with twelve works sporting the word 'symphony' or its variants and some nineteen concertos. After alarms and excursions all of the symphonies are on disc; the concertos have been less favoured. The most grievous lacuna here has been the Cello Concerto and this disc plugs the gap with both generosity and style. The disc is a hands-down winner in the Naxos catalogue and slips nicely into the same rank occupied by Penny's symphonies."
(MusicWeb Recording of the Month Sept 2011)

Sir Malcolm Arnold's preference for classical forms is fully explored in this representative but uniquely distinctive programme. Orchestrations of earlier works form the lyrical Concertino for Flute and Strings and a Saxophone Concerto whose bold statements foreshadow the gritty and powerful Symphony for Strings. Arnold's virtuoso Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet is a late work, and the Cello Concerto was the composer's last in this form; a piece which speaks directly from the soul, appearing here in its première recording.