RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958): Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, WILLIAM MATHIAS (1934-1992): Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2.

Description: Written between 1896-1902, V-W's Fantasy is a 21-minute work of late Romanticism, awkward and unwieldy at times but with broad, diatonic melodies which look forward to his maturity (after all, he was nearly 40 before he started sounding like the composer we know today). Matthias' concerti are also early (1955 and 1961), the first with an almost Gallic acerbity (think of Poulenc), the second closer to his mature stylistic synthesis of lyricism, neo-classicism and neo-romanticism. Mark Bebbington (piano), Ulster Orchestra; George Vass.