Violin Concertos

'It is a fine piece, at times not far from Walton in manner, and Lydia Mordkovitch obviously enjoys its resourceful writing for her instrument.'
- Gramophone

'Britten's tautly worked yet rhapsodic, spirited and searching Violin Concerto is given a multi-dimensional performance by Lydia Mordkovitch…'
- The Telegraph

"We've long needed a good modern recording of Britten's Violin Concerto and here it is at last…this should join that pantheon in a performance to equal, if not surpass, the classic under the composer's direction. Vivid playing from the BBC SO."
***** Five Stars BBC Music Magazine (Jan 2001)

'Anyone interested in English music of the past century must get to know the phenomenal Violin Concerto by the almost-but-not-yet-forgotten- John Veale. Go for it.'
- Fanfare

This is the premiere recording of John Veale's Violin Concerto. The concerto is romantic in aspiration and demonstrates, in the words of the composer, 'a positive will to communicate'.

Veale studied with Egon Wellesz while at Oxford and Roy Harris in the USA. In the 1950s he became a leading composer for the cinema as well as the concert hall - his works were conducted by such illustrious figures as Sir Adrian Boult and Sir John Barbirolli. However, like many young British composers working in a tonal idiom at that time, Veale became persona non grata almost overnight as a consequence of the avant-garde revolution engendered by William Glock's appointment as Director of Music at the BBC. There followed a long period in which he nearly gave up composition and his music was unheard. By a lucky chance the Violin Concerto on this recording was introduced to the BBC Philharmonic in 1986 when the orchestra had a gap in its schedule. A new wave of interest was generated by the work's performance.

In 1939 the general atmosphere of impending war, together with Britten's feeling that it would be impossible for him to realise his musical ambitions in England, tempted the composer to follow his friends Auden and Isherwood to the USA. At the time, Britten was revolting against the prevailing English musical tradition and a seemingly oppressive musical environment. His first major score to be completed in the United States was this concerto. It was deemed to have been a 'terrific success' with one American commentator describing it as 'A brilliant violin concerto, bursting with tart wit and novel effects'.

Richard Hickox is one of the world's leading exponents of Britten's work. His previous recordings on Chandos have been tremendously successful, as shown by outstanding reviews, two Gramophone Awards for the War Requiem and a Grammy for Peter Grimes.

Lydia Mordkovitch was born in Russia and studied at the Odessa Conservatory and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where she was assistant to David Oistrakh. She emigrated to Israel in 1974 and has lived in Britain since 1980. She appears regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, The London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra under such conductors as Vassily Sinaisky, Neeme Järvi and Richard Hickox. An impressive discography of over forty-five recordings reflects Lydia Mordkovitch's very wide repertoire, encompassing music from the complete solo works for violin by Bach to the concertos of Shostakovich, her recording of which for Chandos won a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d'Or. Her work has twice been nominated for a Gramophone Award and has received seven Critic's Choices, and recent recordings have won major nominations or prizes across Europe.