Hybrid-SACD

GOOSSENS: SYMPHONY NO. 1 / PHANTASY CONCERTO

This, the Chandos Featured Release for February, has sadly proved to be Richard Hickox’s final recording. The disc was intended as the first in a cycle devoted to orchestral works by Sir Eugene Goossens. Goossens is principally remembered as a conductor; however, during the 1920s he was ranked as composer alongside Bax, Bridge and Walton, but his colourful, expressive writing fell out of fashion in the 1950s and ’60s and his works are little known today. The Phantasy Concerto, here receiving its premiere recording, features Howard Shelley as soloist. It is coupled with the melodious and imaginative Symphony No. 1. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a noted Goossens specialist and indeed, after emigrating to Australia to become Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and director of the New South Wales Conservatorium, Goossens became one of the most important figures in that country’s musical life.