William Alwyn was a British composer who was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of 15. He was a virtuoso flautist and served for a period as the principal flautist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Alwyn's output was quite large and included five symphonies, four operas, several concertos and string quartets. On this week's featured recording, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic performs a sampling of Alwyn's Orchestral music, under David Lloyd-Jones.
Alwyn wrote over 70 film scores between 1941 to 1962, including scores for Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and Crimson Pirate. Many of the scores are lost, but you can get a definite flavor for his compositional style while listening to his orchestral music. The Suite of Scottish Dances conjures vivid images of the countryside and the people living there.
Our quick pick this week is another collection of works from a 20th-Century composer performed by a British orchestra. Miklós Rózsa's Orchestral Works Volume 1 are recorded by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.