Derek B. Scott: Orchestral Music, Volume Three
Derek Scott, born in Birmingham in 1950, has an international reputation as an historian of the British music hall and other forms of light entertainment. But he is an outstanding composer in his own right – a master craftsman and natural tunesmith, who manages to unite good humour, unerring technique and deep feeling in music of immediate appeal. Although the works recorded here represent his most recent harvest of orchestral music, for many of them he revisited material composed earlier in his career, using it as the basis for a series of new scores, some exhibiting a very English sense of whimsy, others concerned with deeper matters – one, indeed, inspired by the war in Ukraine. This album has been released with remarkable speed: it was recorded only on 15–18 May this year.
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
Paul Mann, conductor
Ingus Novicāns, horn
Līga Baltābola and Jānis Baltābols, violins
Klāvs Jankevics, cello
Gertruda Jerjomenko, harpischord
Listen To This Recording:
- Wilberforce: Tone-Poem, Op. 43 (1983/2022) (12:00)
- Salisbury Plain: Fantasy for Horn and Orchestra, Op. 1 (1972/2022) (7:48)
- Lament, Op. 8 (1977, rev. 2022) (8:51)
- Fibrillation Fantasy, Op. 41 (2022) (5:31)
- Pavane, Op. 42 (2022) (6:49)
- The Warning Song: Tone-Poem, Op. 44 (1985/2022) (9:55)
- Reminiscence: Rondo for Orchestra, Op. 45 Rondo for Orchestra (1971/2022) (7:11)
Concerto Gross in G Minor, Op. 40 (1972/2021) (12:54)
- I. Grave-Allegro (3:35)
- II. Passacaglia: Andante (4:21)
- III. Larghetto – (2:04)
- IV. Allegro vivace (2:54)
All First Recordings
MusicWeb International :
‘Scott has a decided knack for melody and for colourful orchestration and he’s not tied to any pesky compositional -isms. His music is therefore healthy. […]
The sequence of pieces is performed adroitly, as ever, by the Liepāja Symphony under Paul Mann over several days in May 2023. The disc is hot off the press and offers new perspectives on Scott’s compositional directions and history.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Latvia’s Liepāja Symphony Orchestra plays the music with engagement and a reasonable degree of technical finesse, and Paul Mann is clearly conducting it as a labor of love. Toccata’s recording is well balanced and clear. The music of Derek Scott is likely to be a pleasant discovery for anyone interested in new music that is being composed in an audience-friendly style.
—Henry Fogel, Fanfare Magazine, Jan/Feb 2024
MusicWeb International :
‘Paul Mann and his Latvian players have the measure of the music; the horn solo in Salisbury Plain is particularly lovely. Neither can you fault the engineering: even in the disjointed Lament, the various wind soli reproduce with lovely colour and depth. On balance, I rather liked this.’
—Stephen Francis Vasta, MusicWeb International
Fanfare Magazine :
‘[Salisbury Plain] Throughout [its] the eight-minute […], the composer makes skillful use of canon and motivic development. Its style is quite reminiscent of that of Vaughan Williams himself, and the iconic forebear of Scott would surely have been proud to have written this work presented in such glorious fashion by Paul Mann and his soloist, Latvian hornist Ingus Novicāns. The latter’s pure and precise tones to my mind form the quintessential horn sound that every hornist should strive for. […]
As in the previous volumes, Paul Mann and the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra make a most compelling case for these works, bringing clarity to the lines of the music and gracing them with rich and balanced sound. The disc and its presentation bring my warm recommendation all around to anyone interested in first-rate tonal British music.’
—Huntley Dent, Fanfare Magazine, February 2024
Textura :
‘ [His muisc has] genuine feeling too plus seriousness of intent. Furthermore, there’s no pandering; Scott’s music comes by its tunefulness naturally and its integrity in no way suffers. His are immensely well-crafted and expressive pieces strong in melody that reflect many years of engagement as a composer.
The eight works on the seventy-one-minute collection and presented so splendidly by the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra under Paul Mann’s direction exemplify the breadth of Scott’s imagination and resourcefulness. […]
The satisfactions that accrue from exposure to this release are plentiful, so much so that one’s natural inclination is to step back to digest the earlier two volumes. Adding to the value of this latest presentation of Scott’s orchestral output by Toccata Classics is the fact that all of the pieces are first recordings. Don’t let the “light” label deter you from checking out the release: plenty of quality music awaits ready to be admired, appreciated, and enjoyed.’
—Textura