Paul Watkins is an eloquent soloist and Martyn Brabbins directs taut but sympathetic performances... well worth any British music-lover's time

a wider acquaintance with Scott’s rich output is to be encouraged

This fourth volume in the Chandos Scott series opens not only with a first recording, but a first performance of the Cello Concerto from 1937.
By then Scott had become so unfashionable that, along with at least two unperformed operas, this concerto got forgotten. That would be an unjust final judgement. It opens with a 16-minute movement that is virtually a concerto on its own. Right at the start the sustained strings with superimposed celesta create a magical atmosphere. The cello soloist enters with a distinctive rising figure and then Scott's improvisatory instinct takes over. The continuity is close to Delius and some of the scoring is as rich as Ravel.
The second movement is largely an accompanied cadenza, leading to the final rondo where a perky solo bassoon kicks off. There's plenty for the soloist to do but it takes a few hearings for the distinctive qualities of Scott's idiom to sink in. Unlike the Elgar Concerto there's little thematic repetition.
Paul Watkins sounds superb and, as before, Martyn Brabbins is an admirable exponent.
The Symphony No 1 (1899) is another curiosity – this is probably only its second performance since the composer withdrew it after the premiere.
The first movement is labelled Allegro frivolo and it's not far from Sullivan; the Andante has a baleful cor anglais solo; and, because the first two pages of the score were missing, the Allegretto has been completed by Leslie De'Ath, the pianist who has recorded Scott's complete piano works. The finale starts with a modal trombone theme followed by a series of variations and a tentative fugue. A weird touch is the minor-key ending.

The concerto time forgot - despite its Ravel richness - is lovingly revived. Paul Watkins sounds superb and Martyn Brabbins is an admirable exponent.

This is in some ways the most revealing of the issues in Brabbins's Cyril Scott series for Chandos...A first-rate disc, very well recorded.