Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / A Colour Symphony

'Bliss's Violin Concerto dates from more than 30 years later, but the idiom is just as personable and approachable, its emotional range wide and its ideas potent. The ardour and tonal lustre of Lydia Mordkovitch's playing of the solo part - along with the orchestra's suave rhythmically crisp accompaniment - make a case for it occupying a place in the repertoire among such other late-romantic string concertos as those by Walton, Prokofiev and Korngold.'
The Telegraph

'But I feel that Hickox just comes out in front, projecting Bliss's invention in full splendour. Chandos's recording efficiently disentangles and differentiates the various lines in the sometimes congested tutti's, confirming the composer's contrapuntal powers.'
BBC Music Magazine

'Bliss's A Colour Symphony needs a full Technicolour acoustic to do justice to its heraldic splendour. The Chandos sound certainly gives us that. Hickox, on superior form, adds his own bite with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales: it's a sterling interpretation of a key British work. The violin concerto from the 1950s presents the later, less combative Bliss. Lydia Mordkovitch offers a fiery almost gypsy, interpretation; very fetching, and not at all wrong. A rewarding release.'
The Times

This release follows the recent Stanford Songs of the Sea release (CHSA 5043) from Hickox and the BBC NOW, which was 'Recording of the Month' in Gramophone magazine and 'Classical CD of the Week' in both The Times and The Daily Telegraph

In this new recording of Bliss's Violin Concerto, Lydia Mordkovitch, famous for her readings of British music, offers her own personal interpretation of the part made famous by Alfredo Campoli, for whom the work was commissioned. Mordkovitch wonderfully conveys the romance and beauty of this concerto, as well as the fiery nature of the gypsy theme prominent in the finale. This is the only available recording of the Violin Concerto, uniquely coupling with A Colour Symphony.

A Colour Symphony illustrates four heraldic colours by means of striking ideas and original orchestral effects. Hickox and the BBC NOW provide a refined and idiomatic reading, confirming this as one of Bliss's most inventive, striking scores, neglected in recent years.

Reviews:
'Lydia Mordkovitch is a superb violinist…'
American Record Guide on Stanford Violin Concerto

'The orchestra provides characterful emphatic support… the recording captures everything with great vividness and warmth.'

'Classical CD of the Week' in The Daily Telegraph on Elgar Symphony No.2