David Lloyd-jones - English String Miniatures Vol. 2 [CD]

English String Miniatures, Volume 2The three miniatures by Frank Bridge confirm his deft touch with existing tunes and his exemplary writing for strings, born of his having been a professional viola player. In fact, at the premi?¿re of his Two Old English Songs (Cherry Ripe and Sally in our Alley) in 1916 by the London String Quartet, Bridge himself played the viola part. The version for string orchestra followed later that year and was given at the Proms under Sir Henry Wood. Roger de Coverley, subtitled 'A Christmas Dance', appeared six years later and is a set of virtuosic variations on the folk-tune traditionally played last at Christmas balls of the time. Again it was intended for string quartet, with versions for string and full orchestra coming later. In the final pages, Christmas gives way to New Year with the appearance of Auld Long Syne in the texture.Elgar's Sospiri was written on the eve of the Great War and captures something of the impending tragedy to come with its dark colours, bolstered up by optional harp and organ. The title translates as 'sighs', and the work is dedicated to the composer's friend and confidante, the violinist W.H. Reed, whose newly formed London Symphony Orchestra had inspired the more expansive Introduction and Allegro. Before the phenomenal success of Roses of Picardy and the seemingly endless series of suites and characteristic pieces, Haydn Wood was a talented violinist and composer of 'serious' music, like any good pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford. In 1905 he won a prize in the first Cobbett Musical Competition for chamber music, in which all entries were required to use the Word 'fantasy' in some form in the title - his was the Dvorak influenced Phantasie in F major for string quartet, and dedicated to Stanford. Some 44 years later the work was revised and adapted by the composer for string orchestra under the new title, Fantasy-Concerto. It is cast in one continuous movement, but falls into three well-defined sections, and commands the same virtuosic skill from a full string orchestra as did the original of its four individuals. John Ireland wrote several works for string orchestra including the Concertino Pastorale and Downland Suite. The latter began life as a brass band test-piece, and The Holy Boy too has roots elsewhere, this time as a Christmas song of 1913. He made no attempt to expand the piece when transcribing it for the less intimate string orchestra in 1941 for fear of damaging the veneer of childlike innocence that so pervades the original vocal lines.The six pieces that make up Vaughan Williams' Charterhouse Suite were originally written for piano solo. James Brown's arrangement, made in collaboration with the composer, gives few clues as to its origins, being most sympathetically laid out for strings. The title harks back to his schooldays in Godalming from 1887 to 1890.In May 1929, Peter Warlock visited Delius at his home in France to discuss a forthcoming Delius Festival. Searching fo