Lennox Berkeley

Work commissioned by the 1973 Cheltenham Music Festival and premiered by The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

A new edition of one of Berkeley's most frequently performed works in this the composer's centenary year. This work is a classic in the repertoire of British Music for this medium. The first movement has the sparkling elegance ofMozart whom Berkeley idolised but also the driving rhythm of a Bach Brandenburg Concerto; the second is a serenade; the third a kind of scherzo; but the final movement seems to reflect the tragic war years with a slowreminiscence of the opening theme at the very end. A critical commentary by Berkeley expert Peter Dickinson is provided.