Meditations on a Theme by John Blow / Metamorphic Variations

"I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this CD. The quality of the sound is superb; the enthusiasm of the orchestra and conductor is palpable. The learned essay by Giles Easterbrook is excellent and gives a detailed analysis of each piece. I do not want to get into the business of saying which version of these works are the best or even that which I personally prefer. There is always a temptation to have a predilection for the first recording of any piece heard. I would not lose my Lyrita or BBC Classics versions of this music for anything. Yet the present recording is everything a good performance ought to be - demanding, searching and ultimately moving."
(MusicWeb May 2010)

Scored for a large orchestra, including an extensive percussion section, Sir Arthur Bliss's Metamorphic Variations dates from the end of his creative life. Inspired by the triptych Tantris painted by Bliss's long-time friend, the late George Dannatt, it is a work of extremes, of enormous power, passion and violence balanced by gentleness, whimsy and delicacy. Meditations on a Theme by John Blow is one of Bliss's most eloquent and personal scores, a private tribute to a generation cut down in its youth, including his own brother, during World War I.