Bennett: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 / John Wilson

It often happens that a composer’s success in one genre overshadows his or her other work. This can certainly be said of the orchestral concert music of Richard Rodney Bennett, whose extensive catalog of film music is all that many listeners have heard. This Chandos release is the fourth in a series devoted to Bennett’s orchestral concert music. As you’d expect, it is colorful, tuneful and dramatic, the more serious compositions recalling Shostakovich, Bartók and Barber. The BBC Scottish Orchestra under John Wilson furnish virtuosic performances.