GRANVILLE BANTOCK (1868-1946): British Music for Strings 2 - Serenade “In the Far West”, Suite “Scenes from the Scottish Highlands”, CHRISTOPHER WILSON (1874-1919): Suite.

Description: When Bantock reached the pinnacle of his fame, the Three Choirs Festival held in Hereford in 1912, ordered a work for string orchestra from him. The result was the four-movement, 32-minute Serenade for Strings, to which he assigned the subtitle “In the Far West.” Bantock’s string movements are distinguished by an impressive tonal richness. After the performance conductor Douglas Bostock remarked: “I am truly amazed – this is anything but a ‘Serenade,’ as the innocuous title suggests. The succinct, symphonically developed music is nothing other than a string symphony with a demanding writing style representing a genuine tour de force.” Moreover, extensive recorded material documents the Scottish melodies used by Bantock in his Scenes from the Scottish Highlands from 1914 which consist of three fast dances separated by two euphonious slow movements. The six short movements in traditional or dance style forming Christopher Wilson’s 25-minute Suite made it something new and fresh when it was premiered in 1901. Wilson was well-known as a composer of theatre music (much to plays by Shakespeare); his early death was due to heart disease. Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim; Douglas Bostock.