Robin Stevens: Orchestral Music Vol.2 – Paul Mann

The compositional career of Robin Stevens, Welsh-born (in 1958) and Manchester-based, is divided into two periods, separated by a period of illness. The first produced mainly chamber music and works for the church that employed him; restored to health, he found an appetite for larger forms, writing three substantial concertos and a number of other orchestral works. Stevens’ big-boned, four-movement Cello Concerto is something of a younger cousin of Britten’s Cello Symphony, casting the orchestra in kaleidoscopic discussion with the soloist, in moods that range from the humorous to the heroic. Here it sits between a charming orchestral miniature and a searching symphonic poem. In all three works Stevens’ mastery of orchestral colour allows the musical discourse to unfold almost as wordless drama.