Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works Vol. 5 Jonathan Aasgaard, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & John Wilson

• Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012): Concerto for Orchestra:
• 1 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: I. Aubade. Vivo 07:03
• 2 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: II. Adagio 08:01
• 3 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: III. Variations - Tema. Presto 00:25
• 4 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation I. Leggero 00:26
• 5 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation II. Molto agitato 00:34
• 6 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation III. Misterioso 00:24
• 7 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation IV. Strepitoso 00:24
• 8 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation V. Quasi campane 00:38
• 9 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation VI. Appassionato 00:47
• 10 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation VII. Scherzando 00:22
• 11 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Variation VIII. Brillante 00:21
• 12 Bennett: Concerto for Orchestra: Finale. Molto ritmico – Maestoso 02:42
• Sonnets to Orpheus:
• 13 Bennett: Sonnets to Orpheus: I. Allegro 08:04
• 14 Bennett: Sonnets to Orpheus: II. Capriccioso 04:14
• 15 Bennett: Sonnets to Orpheus: III. Arioso 06:07
• 16 Bennett: Sonnets to Orpheus: IV. Molto animato 08:56
• 17 Bennett: Sonnets to Orpheus: V. Adagio – Senza misura 04:43
• Diversions:
• 18 Bennett: Diversions: I. Theme (‘Whistle and I’ll come to you, my lad’). Vivo 01:13
• 19 Bennett: Diversions: II. Variation I. Grazioso 01:30
• 20 Bennett: Diversions: III. Variation II. Scherzando 00:46
• 21 Bennett: Diversions: IV. Interlude 1 (‘In your garden’) 01:30
• 22 Bennett: Diversions: V. Variation III. Poco lento 02:11
• 23 Bennett: Diversions: VI. Variation IV. Con fuoco 01:21
• 24 Bennett: Diversions: VII. Variation V. Tranquillo 02:24
• 25 Bennett: Diversions: VIII. Variation VI. Con brio 01:40
• 26 Bennett: Diversions: IX. Interlude 2 (‘My love’s in Germanie’) 02:39
• 27 Bennett: Diversions: X. Finale. Molto allegro 02:41
• Total Runtime 01:12:06

Info for Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works Vol. 5

John Wilson conducts a series of orchestral works by his mentor and friend Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, which now reaches Volume 5, with three works composed between 1973 and 1989. The son of professional musicians, Bennett showed musical talent from an early age, studying with Howard Ferguson, Lennox Berkeley and later Pierre Boulez. He produced more than 200 works for the concert hall and fifty scores for film and television. He was also a writer and performer of jazz songs for fifty years. Immersed in the techniques of the European avant-garde through his contact with Boulez, he subsequently developed his own dramatic-abstract style. In later years he adopted an increasingly tonal idiom. The Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned at the suggestion of Brian Priestman, the British chief conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra. The three-movement structure, which concludes with a dazzling series of variations, shows the modern orchestra as a virtuoso body of players. His rarely performed cello concerto Sonnets to Orpheus was written for the Edinburgh International Festival and premiered by Heinrich Schiff. Diversions was a commission from the Haberdashers' Aske's Schools in North London to celebrate their Tercentenary in 1990. It was played for the first time by the combined orchestras of all seven schools at a celebratory concert in the Royal Festival Hall and the finished work is a lushly colourful set of symphonic variations based on the Scottish folk song ‘Whistle and I'll come to you, my lad’.

Jonathan Aasgaard, cello
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
John Wilson, conductor

Jonathan Aasgaard
Norwegian cellist Jonathan Aasgaard is one of UK’s most versatile cellists, as soloist, chamber musician, studio musician, orchestral principal, teacher and explorer of new music.

Aasgaard was appointed Principal Cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999 and has since performed more than 40 works for cello and orchestra with the RLPO. He is regularly invited as a guest principal with several leading British and European orchestras and is principal cello of the John Wilson Orchestra. A dedicated teacher, Aasgaard is Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Chamber music performances have taken him around Europe, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea and the USA including a range of leading festivals collaborating with artists such as violinists Nigel Kennedy, Henning Kraggerud and Julian Rachlin, violist Laurence Power, cellists Yo Yo Ma and Giovanni Sollima, pianists Simon Trpceski, Boris Giltberg, Joanna Mac Gregor and clarinetist Martin Fröst. He’s a member of the exiting UK based Pixels Ensemble and the Ulster based chamber group the Fews.

His recordings include an album of transcriptions for cello and piano with Ian Buckle (MSR Classics); the CD 'From Jewish Life' (Avie) with the RLPO and Gerard Schwarz, which includes music for cello and orchestra by Bloch, Bruch, Schwarz and David Diamond; an album of music by Carl Davis for cello and orchestra with the Philharmonia; a recording of Brahms' cello sonatas with Martin Roscoe (Avie) which was ‘editors choice’ for chamber music in the Gramaphone Magazine; the 3 Debussy Sonatas with the Pixels Ensemble (Rubicon) and the Korngold Sextet with the Sinfonia of London Chamber Ensemble (Chandos). Future recording projects include the Elgar and Walton cello concertos and the third violin sonata and the cello sonata by Grieg ​

He has given numerous premieres, including the world premiere of Carl Davis' Ballade for cello and orchestra, the European premiere of Giovanni Sollima's double cello concerto, the UK premiere of Weinberg’s cello concerto, the US premiere of concertos by Franz Neruda and Emil Hartmann and world premieres of dozens of solo pieces of which many are written for him.

Jonathan studied at the Barratt Due’s institute in Oslo and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with the late Prof. Leonard Stehn where he won all the cello and chamber music prizes and was a gold medal finalist.

Jonathan plays a cello by Celeste Farotti, made in Milan in 1926.

Booklet for Richard Rodney Bennett: Orchestral Works Vol. 5