JOHN CASKEN (b.1949): Violin Concerto, Concerto for Orchestra, Orion over Farne.

Description: Casken's violin concerto is intimately related to his opera God's Liar after Tolstoy, a tale of human frailty and dilemma, fate and the consequences of our decisions. As such, the concerto has an unmistakable narrative arc and direction, especially in the cumulative tension of the central passacaglia slow movement. Casken's idiom is notable for its harmonic richness in an original expanded sense of tonality, and an inventive wealth of unexpected timbral color in the orchestration, characteristics much in evidence throughout this work. The Concerto for Orchestra is a symphony in all but name, tautly and precisely structured in a manner typical of the composer's work. The work is in two movements, clearly subdivided into the customary symphonic four, with the kind of exuberantly colorful orchestration that Casken clearly enjoys and excels at, and which justifies the concerto for orchestra label. The work is intense and resolute in its forward drive, highly directional in both harmony and rhythmic restlessness. The Greek Orion myth and the wild spaces of the Farne island landscape in the north of England inspired four atmospheric episodes of rich orchestral texture, sonorous and detailed. Dedicated to Lutoslawski, the work has some characteristics in common with his work, with a sense of structural freedom and a closer approach to atonality than Casken's more recent pieces. Sophia Jaffé (violin), Hallé; Markus Stenz.