Aronowitz Ensemble get poetic with great British works

The Aronowitz Ensemble capture Huw Watkins' nostalgia in pieces written for the group that sits nicely between two British greats: Elgar and Vaughan Williams

Composer: Watkins, Elgar, Vaughan Williams
Repertoire: Chamber Works
Artists: Aronowitz Ensemble
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Chamber
Label: Sonimage SON 10901

Watkins captures beautifully the nostalgic mood of lost youth in his work for string sextet and piano written for the award-winning Aronowitz Ensemble in 2008. His dissonance nags unharshly and he contrasts the tone of hammer and bow on string with an ear for mourning. The group, including former Young Musician of the Year Guy Johnston, has a fluent feel for the poetry, both of Watkins’s imagination and the original inspiration. His work is well-placed between piano quintets by Vaughan Williams and Elgar which evoke similar dreamy regrets, the former of lost folk language, the latter of an entire age swallowed up by war.