Jonathan Dove (Naxos 8.573080)

Jonathan Dove has been hailed as one of Britain’s most resourceful and versatile contemporary composers, with an affinity for vocal settings. Out of Winter, written in collaboration with Dove, is the late Sir Robert Tear’s poetic response to Thomas Hardy’s Winter Words. Cut My Shadow is a powerful setting of three Lorca texts, while All You Who Sleep Tonight, to poems by Vikram Seth, is elegant, moving, and witty.

Sterling performances by soloists Claire Booth (soprano), Patricia Bardon (mezzosoprano) and Nicky Spence (tenor) accompanied by pianist Andrew Matthews- Owen.

Panufnik/Lutoslawski String Quartets: Tippett Quartet (Naxos 8.573164) The Tippett Quartet give rare performances of Andrzej Panufnik’s neglected string quartets. The First Quartet features bittersweet harmonies, while the Second Quartet subtitle Messages refers to the mysterious sounds of telegraph poles vibrating in the wind. The Third Quartet alludes to paper cuts familiar in Polish rustic art. The album is rounded off with Lutosławski’s dramatic String Quartet.

Ernest Bloch: Orchestral Works Vol 4 (Naxos 8.573283) Bloch’s evocative Israel Symphony, fusing pastoral and sensuous elements, was premièred in 1917. Originally intended as a gigantic three-part work, it was later reduced in size. The album is rounded off with his Suite for Viola andOrchestra.