Charles Martin Loeffler was a significant American composer of the generation who came into prominence before the First World War. In this pioneering programme of first recordings, distinguished soloists and the BBC Concert Orchestra explore the music Loeffler wrote soon after he became an American citizen in the 1880s and joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Soloist Lorraine McAslan brilliantly rises to the music's very considerable technical demands, velvet-toned in the Une Nuit de Mai, a sumptuous musical picture of a spring night in the Ukraine. In the extended Divertissement in A minor effectively a three-movement violin concerto McAslan throws off Loeffler's virtuosic passagework with aplomb and his romantic tunes with gorgeous tone. Prizewinning soloist Amy Dickson delights with the compact Divertissement Espagnol for saxophone and orchestra. The programme is completed with the vivid symphonic fantasy La Villanelle du Diable (The Devil's Round).

Divertissement Espagnol & La Villanelle Du Diable

Divertissement Espagnol for Saxophone and Orchestra: Moderato - Andante - Allegro Moderato

La Villanelle Du Diable Op. 9: Presto - Movimento Di Marcia - Chanson Révolutionnaire (La Carmagnole)

La Villanelle Du Diable Op. 9: Grave - Andante - Presto

Une Nuit de Mai for Violin and Orchestra: Lento - Cadenza - Allegro Molto - Tranquillo

Divertissement in a Minor for Violin and Orchestra: I. Préambule (Allegro)

Divertissement in a Minor for Violin and Orchestra: II. Eclogue (Andante)

Divertissement in a Minor for Violin and Orchestra: III. Carnaval Des Morts (Moderato)

Poem "Avant Que Tu Ne T'en Ailles": Lento, Misterioso - Andante - Allegro