Disc Details

Contents

Work Title	Composer
A Song for Chris - concerto for cello and chamber orchestra	Edward Gregson	Listen
Goddess	Edward Gregson	Listen
Music for Chamber Orchestra	Edward Gregson	Listen
Stepping Out	Edward Gregson	Listen
Trombone Concerto	Edward Gregson	Listen

Reviews

• His oeuvre breathes atmosphere and craftsmanship. [...] Best of all is "A Song for Chris", an ear-tingling cello concerto of ingenuity, beauty and substance.
  Andrew Clark, The Financial TImes, 05 March 2011
• '...a sequence of works written between 1968 and 2009, all of them strong and beautifully crafted. [...] when he next wrote for orchestra in the Trombone Concerto, his extra skill bubbled over in a work full of fun, [...] The range of effects Gregson conceives on the trombone is breathtaking as played by Moore. In a single movement lasting just over 15 minutes, the work ranges wide with a cadenza which brings in spectacular sliding glissandos as well as flutter-tonguing. The final section has a jolly marching theme leading to a rousing conclusion. If anyone wants to sample Gregson's music, this is the first work I would suggest.
  
  A splendid showcase not only for the composer and the two excellent soloists but also the BBC Concert Orchestra.
  Edward Greenfield, Gramophone Magazine, 01 March 2011
• Soloist Peter Moore tackles its (Trombone Concerto) virtuosic, technical demands superbly while maintaining a ravishing tone in the lyrical passages. All trombonists should hear this.
  
  A brooding, plaintive soliloquy for cello opens A Song for Chris, which was written in memory of Christopher Rowland. Guy Johnston’s richly nuanced playing makes for an emotive presentation of a work infused with poignant quotations from Shostakovich’s Third String Quartet and Cello Concerto No 1. A mellifluous, soaring melody concludes the piece, Gregson confounding expectations at the very last moment. This is a formidable release, excellently presented.
  
  Norman Jacobs, MUSO, 01 March 2011
• During the past several years, Chandos has issued a number of excellent CDs of the orchestral music of Edward Gregson, and the latest issue continues the very welcome exploration of this remarkable composer’s output. […] On the strength of the CD, as well as on that of the earlier ones, I have no hesitation in declaring Gregson to be one of the most significant British composers currently active in this country; this new disc contains the most consistently impressive series of works from his pen I have heard.
  
  Music for Chamber Orchestra remains an impressive score, full of genuine musical thinking, but the work that has grabbed my attention is the Trombone Concerto: this is a masterpiece. It is brilliantly written for the soloist and orchestra and yet is a thrilling piece of music in its own right.
  
  Two Pictures for Sting Orchestra belong in the noble tradition of English string orchestra writing and demonstrate Gregson’s range as a composer. These Two Pictures are admirable, the two movements fit together beautifully.
  
  A Song for Chris is a beautifully balanced work, and is quietly impressive.
  
  Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review, 01 January 2011