KEY POINTS:
Richard Rodney Bennett, who is now in his eighth decade, may seem to be one of the grand old men of British music, but this composer is also something of a maverick.
In the 1950s he studied hardline serialism with Boulez, yet by the 80s Bennett was into cabaret chic and stopped in at Auckland's Mandrill Studios to make a delightful solo album for Ode Records, crooning songs such as Real Men Don't Eat Quiche.
His expressionist opera The Mines of Sulphur was a success in the mid-60s - film director John Huston directed it for La Scala - and a 2004 New York revival and subsequent CD confirmed its importance. In 2001 a Chandos CD reminded us of Bennett's eminence as a film composer, with music from the likes of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Murder on the Orient Express.
Now Chandos has paid a birthday tribute by releasing the first volume of his orchestral music.
The 1995 Partita shows craft in the service of accessibility - Bennett was determined it should be full of tunes. With an opening theme that could have slipped from a soundtrack, it receives a lively reading from the Philharmonia Orchestra under Richard Hickox, with players revelling in their many solo spots.
Included are Bennett's two Reflections for string orchestra. One takes its inspiration from a 16th-century tune, the other from a Scottish folksong. These are more recent compositions, the second being written in memory of the Queen Mother.
This work is frankly pastoral in style, hearkening back to the heyday of Vaughan Williams.
Cellist Paul Watkins is an engaging soloist and the Chandos engineers give this unashamedly romantic work all the space and sumptuousness it needs.
New Zealand has its part to play on this disc too, with Jonathan Lemalu singing the complete cycle of Bennett's Songs before Sleep, written expressly for the bass-baritone. We heard three numbers from the set in Lemalu's last recital disc, with piano accompaniment, but strings add immeasurably to the unsettling lullaby of Wee Willie Winkie, the showstopping ballad of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Brittenesque scalliwaggery of There was an Old Woman.
Lemalu responds perfectly to these tune-filled, witty settings, whetting my appetite for his Auckland concert in May when he will reprise them with Malcolm Martineau on piano.
* Richard Rodney Bennett, Orchestral Works Vol. 1 (Chandos 10389, through Ode Records)
