Gemma Rosefield (cello), BBC Scottish SO/Andrew Manze Hyperion CDA 67859****

Jeremy Dibble's sleeve note for this new CD of Stanford's music for cello and orchestra sees the 28-year-old composer's 1880 Cello Concerto as a British piece following Arthur Sullivan's concerto of 1866. From an Irish perspective, Stanford's work might best be seen in the context of the two cello concertos by another Dubliner, Victor Herbert, whose 1894 Second Concerto inspired Dvorák. The Stanford, which was neither performed nor published in the composer's lifetime, is an attractively light piece, and sounds well in this performance by Gemma Rosefield. The gentle gaiety of the Rondo in F of 1868 is impressively accomplished for a 16-year-old composer. The much later Ballataand Ballabileand Third Irish Rhapsodyreinforce Stanford's preference for cello writing that is either lyrical or melancholy.

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