This varied selection of tuneful but largely unfamiliar orchestral music by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs includes the delightful suite from his collaboration with Walter de la Mare, the “fairy play” Crossings. Gibbs’s music is very much an escapist art, full of charming tunes – as exemplified by The Enchanted Wood, which the composer described as “a dance phantasy,” and the full orchestral version of his most popular work, the haunting slow waltz Dusk. In a similar light music vein are the attractive The Cat and the Wedding Cake (from the television operetta Mr. Cornelius) and Four Orchestral Dances, written for a BBC Light Music Festival. In contrast are the Symphonic poem A Vision of Night, which reflects Gibbs’s enthusiasm for the new music at the Diaghilev ballet, and the neo-classical Suite in A for violin and orchestra.

Crossings – suite for orchestra, Op. 20 (1919)

1 i Overture (Molto moderato e tranquillo – Vivace ma non troppo)
2 ii The Arrival (Lento e dolce)
3 iii Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker (Allegro risoluto)
4 iv Scherzo: The Snow Tea (Vivace e leggiero)
5 v Christmas Eve (Allegro con moto)

The Enchanted Wood, Op. 25 (1919) – a dance phantasy for piano, violin obbligato and strings
with soloists BEN DAWSON piano and CHARLES MUTTER violin
6 Introduction (Midsummer Night in the Enchanted Wood) (Molto moderato)
7 The Dance of the Nightwind (Allegretto leggiero – Largamente)
8 The Dance of the Flowers and Grasses (Andante e legato)
9 The Dance of the Forest Trees (Vivace ritmico)
10 At the First Breath of Dawn, the Spell Dissolves (Molto moderato)

11 Symphonic Poem – A Vision of Night, Op. 38 (1921) (Grave – Largamente)

Dusk – slow waltz from Fancy Dress Suite, Op. 82, No. 3(1934)
12 (Tempo di valse lente) original orchestral version

Suite in A for violin and orchestra, Op. 101
(1942)
with soloist CHARLES MUTTER violin

13 i Prelude (Maestoso ma ritmico)
14 ii Rigadoon (Vivace)
15 iii Slow Tune (Lento con tristezza)
16 iv Carol (Andante semplice)
17 v Coranto (Con moto)

18 The Cat and the Wedding Cake (Con grazia)
– from the television operetta Mr Cornelius (1953)

Four Orchestral Dances
(1959)
19 i Scherzetto (Allegro molto)
20 ii Dream (Molto moderato)
21 iii Graceful Dance (Poco allegretto e grazioso)
22 iv Processional Dance (Tempo di marcia)

BBC Concert Orchestra
conducted by RONALD CORP
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS, EXCEPT [12]

Multi-ch All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

This Hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD player

“Charming, well crafted and warmly melodious” “… it’s hard to imagine anyone making a more handsome case than Ronald Corp and the BBC CO” “… smiling peformances …” Richard Bratby, Gramophone, May 2016