Label: Quantum Cat No QM7040 Leslie Craven is Principal Clarinet of the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and is a leading exponent of the British school of clarinet playing. The clarinet concerto was specially written for him by Christopher Ball, who was himself an orchestral clarinettist and played regularly with the Halle orchestra for a number of years. The Four Dances for wind trio were written as a companion piece to Malcolm Arnold’s Divertimento for the same trio combination of flute, oboe & clarinet. The flute concerto is performed by its dedicatee, Adam Walker, who first came to prominence in 2004 as a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, performing Nielsen’s flute concerto. In his Irish Suite, Christopher Ball has arranged four well-known traditional tunes for orchestra, whose forces even include the authentic sound of a tin whistle in one of the suite’s movements.
