Tim Hugh's adroitly managed and deeply personal reading...Tim Hugh has unquestionably set the benchmark in the Arthur Bliss Cello Concerto.

This is a first-rate performance of Bliss's Cello Concerto from Tim Hugh, stylishly and sympathetically partnered by David Lloyd-Jones and the English Northern Philharmonia. The work is a delightful creation, ideally proportioned, impeccably crafted and full of the most beguiling invention. Hugh plays with commanding assurance, great beauty of tone and rapt commitment, and the accompaniment is sprightly and sensitive to match. What makes this release indispensable to all Bliss admirers is the inclusion of the Two Studies. These date from 1921 and were believed lost until they turned up in the composer's papers after his death in 1975.
The first is a memorably chaste, coolly serene affair, scored with delicious poise, whereas the second is an energetic, good-humoured and occasionally face-pulling romp.
That just leaves the tremendous Music forStrings, which is where, alas, reservations must be raised. This superb score displays and demands a formidable technical facility, and Bliss's exhilaratingly well-judged writing would surely test any string section. It would be idle to pretend that the hard-working strings of the English Northern Philharmonia are ideally secure exponents. The work is well served by Lloyd-Jones's clear-headed, expressive interpretation, but in the finale's crucial introductory bars his approach is oddly perfunctory. The Cello Concerto and the Two Studies alone though, will probably be enticement enough for many listeners. The recorded sound is excitingly realistic.

Bliss: cello concerto Bliss: Music for Strings Bliss: Study, Op. 16, No. 2: Adagio ma non troppo Bliss: Study, Op. 16, No. 3: Allegro Conductors Lloyd-Jones, David Groups & Artists English Northern Philharmonia Hugh, Tim