The Chandos label's ongoing series devoted to the orchestral music of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett has been a fine memorial to this composer, who survived the depredations of hard modernism and began to gain the recognition he deserved before his death in 2012. In general, the albums in the series have been arranged to show Bennett's stylistic versatility, and this fourth volume is no exception. There are some splendid examples of Bennett's unparalleled skill as a tunesmith in the neoclassic Country Dances, especially in the ...
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The Chandos label's ongoing series devoted to the orchestral music of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett has been a fine memorial to this composer, who survived the depredations of hard modernism and began to gain the recognition he deserved before his death in 2012. In general, the albums in the series have been arranged to show Bennett's stylistic versatility, and this fourth volume is no exception. There are some splendid examples of Bennett's unparalleled skill as a tunesmith in the neoclassic Country Dances, especially in the fourth one, "Chelsea Reach." This was a late Bennett work (2000-2001); clearly, he lost no melodic inspiration as he aged. Nor did he simply move in a more Romantic direction later in his career like so many other composers: the Anniversaries (1982) are more dissonant than the 1960s works on the album. The Piano Concerto of 1968 is an exceptionally attractive one. It was premiered by Steven Kovacevich, who reportedly memorized the piece because he said it was so difficult that the...
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