There are, as Alan says, multiple competing versions of the Violin Concerto, some marginally more accomplished than others but none of them is a dud. This one is as good as any. This two CD set has some advantages, though. The only complete recording of the Othello music is that conducted by Malcolm Sargent and dates from 1932. The vesrion on Naxos conducted by Adrian Leaper (and recently re-issued) omits the Funeral March.
The African Suite recorded here is not otherwise available: the first three movements are orchestrated by Chris Cameron in a manner so completely idiomatic that had I not known otherwise, I would have accepted them as the composer's own work. SC-T orchestrated the last movement himself, of course, and this had been recorded several times.
Also, the performance of the Petite Suite de Concert, conducted by the American Anthony Parnther, is a real winner. It reminds me of George Weldon's recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra; there's something peculiarly English about it as if it had been recorded by a top flight municipial orchestra on a seaside bandstand! Maestro Parnther also observes the repeats in the first movement which can only benefit a piece that I wish were longer in any case.
I would categorise the recording of the op 33 Ballade conducted by Kalena Bovell as 'acceptable' but it doesn't supplant the wonderful performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Grant Llewellyn, which contrasts the sections more effectively and is more full of character.
Finally, I must say that I feel Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Sussex Landscape, while a pleasant enough thirteen minutes, shows that she didn't have a quarter of her dear old dad's talent.
The African Suite recorded here is not otherwise available: the first three movements are orchestrated by Chris Cameron in a manner so completely idiomatic that had I not known otherwise, I would have accepted them as the composer's own work. SC-T orchestrated the last movement himself, of course, and this had been recorded several times.
Also, the performance of the Petite Suite de Concert, conducted by the American Anthony Parnther, is a real winner. It reminds me of George Weldon's recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra; there's something peculiarly English about it as if it had been recorded by a top flight municipial orchestra on a seaside bandstand! Maestro Parnther also observes the repeats in the first movement which can only benefit a piece that I wish were longer in any case.
I would categorise the recording of the op 33 Ballade conducted by Kalena Bovell as 'acceptable' but it doesn't supplant the wonderful performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Grant Llewellyn, which contrasts the sections more effectively and is more full of character.
Finally, I must say that I feel Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Sussex Landscape, while a pleasant enough thirteen minutes, shows that she didn't have a quarter of her dear old dad's talent.