An album of orchestral music by the Welsh-born and Manchester-based composer Robin Stephens is being released by Toccata on 6 March.
The compositional career of Robin Stevens, who was born in 1958, 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.
According to Toccata, 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.
Robin Stevens: Orchestral Music, Volume Two (TOCC 0764) is released on 6 March by Toccata.