The Lyrita label has perhaps an odd specialty; it revives older British music that has fallen out of fashion, often presenting it in historical recordings. The value of the approach may be seen in the label's series devoted to the symphonies of composer Daniel Jones, of which the Third and Fifth are presented here. In the 1950s, when these works were composed, Jones was a leading symphonist, but he is not much played these days. His music is utterly distinctive, and who knows, perhaps a revival is in the offing. Jones ...
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The Lyrita label has perhaps an odd specialty; it revives older British music that has fallen out of fashion, often presenting it in historical recordings. The value of the approach may be seen in the label's series devoted to the symphonies of composer Daniel Jones, of which the Third and Fifth are presented here. In the 1950s, when these works were composed, Jones was a leading symphonist, but he is not much played these days. His music is utterly distinctive, and who knows, perhaps a revival is in the offing. Jones really can't be classified according to the big trends of the mid-century. His music is rigorously constructed. At times, Jones flirted with serialism. It's not so much in evidence here, but in the Symphony No. 3, he organizes the music around a pair of tonal centers a half-step apart, B and B flat. Motivically, the music arises from cells stated at the beginning of each movement, with little in the way of orchestral color to distract from the structure. On top of his music being dense...
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