GORDON JACOB (1895-1984): Complete Music for Viola and Orchestra - Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, Concerto No. 2, Concert Piece (ed. John White), 3 Pieces (orch. Graham Parlett), Passacaglia Stereophonica for Orchestra.

Description: Although they date from as early as 1925 (Concerto No. 1) to 1979 (Concerto No. 2), all these works for viola and orchestra emphasize the lyrical and passionately singing side of the viola; the English pastoral tradition is strong in the 1925 concerto (Vaughan Williams-ish modalism present) but also in the 1977 Concert Piece where you might expect to find something "sterner" while the 1979 Concerto No. 2 was written as a test-piece for the first Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and, while it may be the most technically demanding of them all, it's still very musical and approachable. Note: the three-minute Passacaglia was written in 1960 for a BBC stereo broadcasting experiment - one channel on radio and one on the telly (!). Helen Callus (viola), BBC Concert Orchestra; Stephen Bell.