Julian Anderson spent four fruitful years as resident composer with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This, the second disc of his work on the LPO label, includes persuasive recent performances under Vladimir Jurowski of Alleluia, the substantial choral work Anderson wrote for the 2007 reopening of the Royal Festival Hall, and The Stations of the Sun (1998). But the highlight is In Lieblicher Bläue, captured at its premiere last year, a violin concerto in all but name. Inspired by Hölderlin’s poetic image of a steeple against a bright blue sky, Anderson uses a brilliant orchestral palette to create sonorities that dazzle, suggesting intense colour and almost blinding sunlight. Above and through all this, Carolin Widmann’s violin soars serenely. On a recording we lose some of the theatre – Widmann had to walk on to the platform playing, then swap her bow for a pencil, then play with her back to the audience – but the piece is equally strong without it.
