GRACE WILLIAMS (1906-1977): Symphony No. 2, Ballads for Orchestra (BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra; Vernon Handley), Fairest of Stars for Soprano and Orchestra (Janet Price, London Symphony Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves

Description: The 37-minute symphony from 1956 is picturesque and dramatic in its first and third movements, gently pastoral in the second and closes with a remarkable, elegiac largo. Ballads (1968) is in the same Welsh vein as Williams' Penillion (in the January catalogue) and Fairest (1973 and written for this recording) is a sweeping 14-minutes of ecstatic melody setting lines from Paradise Lost. Original 1996 Lyrita CD issue