George Lloyd: The Symphonies Nos. 1 - 6 in Bloomington, MN

Composer
George Lloyd
wrote in a neo-Romantic style and had the bad luck to come of age, after recovering from PTSD during World War II, as modernism finally rolled over Britain. When his work finally began to be recorded, it was on the poorly distributed label
Albany
. This album of the first six symphonies is part of a hefty planned series of
Lloyd
releases from the
Lyrita
label, and it is to be welcomed. The recordings were made for
between 1986 and 1992, with
conducting the
BBC Symphony
and the
Albany Symphony
, which acquits itself generally quite well. The brass work, very important in
's output, is fine throughout, and hear the strings in the Lento of the
Symphony No. 4 in B minor ("Arctic")
. That work is perhaps
's masterpiece and, with its military passages, seems to refer to his wartime experiences (he almost drowned in a vat of oil after his ship was torpedoed). It is absolutely worthy of further hearings. Another highlight is something of an outlier;
Charade ("Scenes from the '60s")
is not a symphony but a little satirical suite portraying aspects of the counterculture. Try the "LSD" movement.
was a partly frustrated opera composer, and his writing has a dramatic quality that draws on
Verdi
, interspersed with passages of contrapuntal complexity. The first three symphonies are youthful works, written when
was about 20, and they are exuberant in many ways. The slow movements of the
Symphony No. 5
and
Symphony No. 6
reveal a major tunesmith. This is a wonderful collection of works that raises high expectations for future
releases in the series. ~ James Manheim