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Sally Beamish Concertos & 1st Symphony

Violin Concerto No. 1
Flute Concerto ‘Callisto’
Symphony No. 1

Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins/
Anthony Marwood (violin)/Sharon Bezaly (flute)

BIS - BISCD1601 [79 mins]

 

Beamish celebrates in her notes the advantages of moving from London, where she was a free-lance violist, to "a small country with a vibrant culture" - Scotland - from where commissions, publication in Norway, recordings for a Finnish company have all flourished amazingly. This is the sixth BIS disc to be dedicated to the music of Sally Beamish.

The violin concerto, which begins with some very angry music, was inspired by the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and was influenced by the composer’s ‘deep-rooted sense of the futility and tragedy of war’.

The flute(s) concerto exploits Sharon Bezaly's exceptional skills on her flutes, from piccolo to bass.

The symphony, representing ‘a celebration of the beauty of Scotland, and the inspiration, both musical and visual, which I have found here' and it encompasses a double set of variations combining a psalm and a pibroch.

A very impressive disc, superbly realised. We've come a long way since the days when it was hard for British women composers to get a foot in...Recommended.

Peter Grahame Woolf

Review of the previous (5th) Beamish Bis disc - Beamish_biscd1241.htm