John Veale & Benjamin Britten: 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 Magazine

'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

‘We’ve long needed a good modern recording of Britten’s Violin Concerto and here it is at last.’ Best available version --Britten BBC Music Magazine

Here’s a real discovery. British composer John Veale (b. 1922) enjoyed a successful career as a composer of concert and film music broadly in the tradition of William Walton and other basically tonal but thoroughly modern colleagues. Then he all but gave up composing as a result of the English serial mafia’s take over of the BBC in the 1960s (which essentially curtailed or even ended the careers of composers who did not tow the party line). It has been our loss, but like his colleagues George Lloyd and Berthold Goldschmidt, Veale now has found a reason to go on composing, and if this concerto offers any indication, continued interest in his music will be well worth the trouble.
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