Reviews

…Gregson’s Concerto for Orchestra is the most overtly brilliant of the three. Written in 1983 for the National Centre for Orchestral Studies, in a post-modern idiom, it is imaginatively scored and beautifully clear in sound and communicative power – the finale is very thrilling…I am happy to say that this new CD is outstandingly well conducted  and brilliantly played throughout. The recordings are excellent. This important CD deserves every success.  

Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review (May 2002)

Edward Gregson’s Concerto for Orchestra is a multifariously propelled work; the energetic Intrada gives way to a lovely Elegy that then turns into a savage rhythmic Toccata, that reveals many interesting ideas.

Gregson’s Concerto dances like mad and sounds damned good besides.  The score glitters, with special attention to brass, tuned percussion, and harp.  Gregson works with rather edgy, angular, but memorable ideas.  Everything holds together extremely tightly.  In fact, the opening motif runs through all three movements of the piece.  Of the three works here, I think this is the one that will catch up most people, because it moves so purposefully – almost as well as the Bartók.  Gregson originally called the work Contrasts, and that’s certainly the rhetorical strategy.  In the first movement, it sounds as if groups of instruments keep interrupting each other.  The second movement Elegy plays with sharply contrasting ideas … The finale is a corker, the most propulsive of the three movements, with rat-a-tat rhythms and ‘big shoulder’ fanfare ideas in the brass.  It should knock you out of your seat.

Classical CD Review (September 2002)

Classical CD Review (2002)

Douglas Bostock, in his continuing British Symphonic Collection,  has struck gold with these premiere recordings of three examples from the Eighties. Edward Gregson’s Contrasts [later re-named Concerto for Orchestra] defines the norm, being an extremely effective three-movement display piece along fairly conventional lines.

Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine (June 2003)

Gregson’s concerto dances like mad and sounds damned good besides. The score glitters, with special attention to brass, tuned percussion, and harp. Gregson works with rather edgy, angular, but memorable ideas. Everything holds together extremely tightly. In fact, the opening motive runs throughout all three movements of the piece. Of the three works here, I think this is the one that will catch up most people, because it moves so purposefully – indeed, almost as well as the Bartok…. The finale is a corker, the most propulsive of the three movements, with rat-a-tat rhythms and ‘big-shoulder’ ideas in the brass. It should knock you out of your seat!  All three works are magnificently played and interpreted by the RLPO who are also admirably conducted by Douglas Bostock.  Classico also include a fascinating interview with Lewis Foreman and the three composers on record that deals with various aspects of their music.

Classical CD Review (2002)