Leighton: Orchestral Works, Volume 1 Organ Orchestral & Concertos Chandos

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Hickox and the BBC NOW likewise do full justice to the Concerto for String Orchestra that Leighton completed in September 1961… Music as absorbing, humane and emotionally charged as this deserves a regular place in the repertory, an observation which extends to the magnificent Organ Concerto that Leighton wrote in 1970, prior to his appointment as Reid Professor at Edinburgh University. The instrumentation mirrors that of Poulenc’s 1938 Concerto and Leighton’s resplendent score exhibits a similar cumulative impact and communicative élan. John Scott acquits himself with distinction and receives glowing support from Hickox and company. Chandos’ gorgeously ripe sound and superbly judged balance add further lustre to what is a terrific disc. I can hardly wait for the second instalment.

Gramophone

Needless to say , Hickox, with the assistance of Chandos’ expanded acoustic, easily improves upon the earlier recordings, offering much more clarity and insight into Leighton’s sedulous and deliberate knitting together of motifs while suffusing the whole with a high degree of tension, intensity, and even an atmosphere of fatalism

Fanfare

The latter work [Organ Concerto], especially, is a powerful and passionate utterance that displays Leighton as one of the most substantial musical thinkers of his generation. John Scott is a first-rate soloist in this taxing work and Richard Hickox directs superbly paced and eloquent performances of this fine music.

BBC Music Magazine

Leighton’s Concerto for organ strings and Timpani is a grand solemn creation and should be of special interest to devotees of Poulenc’s work for the same forces. Though probing and deeply serious it has a dignity, monumentality and fervency lacking in Leighton’s Concerto for strings that will likely make it more approachable and engaging for most listeners… This finale, combining a slowly but inevitably growing barrage of sound with the mystery, sonorous weight, and liturgical authority of the organ, is the most impressive – and to me the most moving – music here. It certainly comes through with imposing majesty in Chandos’ potent recording

American Record Guide

All in all it is a revelatory and superbly played disc.

The Telegraph

Chandos, Hickox and the BBC NOW are to be congratulated on their welcome initiative, and I for one will look forward with great interest to the succeeding volumes of this most promising series

International Record Review

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