Cristina Anghelescu violin
Philharmonic Orchestra
David Parry conductor
Anthony Ross cello
Albany Symphony Orchestra
David Alan Miller conductor
Lyrita SRCD 2422
George Lloyd’s musical credo was ‘I write what I like’, and music flowed from his pen with ease it seems. He began lessons on the violin at the age of six, and spent six years studying with Albert Sammons. Sammons was a major influence on Lloyd as a musician and also as a composer.
It is a little surprising that the two concertos for violin come late in Lloyd’s career, the first from 1970 remained unperformed until this recording was made in 1998. The second was written for Manoug Parikian and was premièred in 1986, nine years after it was composed.
Lloyd did not want to pit the violin against the full orchestra, so each of the two concertos for violin is scored for just one family of instruments, number 1 by the wind and number 2 by strings. The first concerto begins with a movement which is lively and energetic, reminding me of Martinu and Francaix; it is written in a neo-classical style. The second movement begins contemplatively but soon becomes more fiery, while the third is gently jocular. The programme note says this movement is marked Giocoso, but the track listing has Grazioso.
The second violin concerto has four movements. At the head of the score is a quote – with holy songs and dances, with blood-covered sacrifice or prayer, each in our way we give our offering Lord, – and the mood of the concerto is devotional, particularly in the two slower movements (the first and third). The finale, with its dotted rhythms perhaps refers to the quote’s holy dances.
The cello concerto dates from 1997, a year before Lloyd’s death and exploits the full range and colours of the instrument. I was struck by the brooding opening of the first movement and the long cantilena for cello which follows. The orchestra is modest and the concerto is in one continuous movement lasting 30 minutes.
The work is one of Lloyd’s most tightly argued composition with each section (there are seven) leading naturally from the one before. There are no heroic gestures to end the work, which fades gradually into quietness. The work was premièred in 2000 in Portugal and later that year performed in London
Review by Ronald Corp