Ryan Wigglesworth (born 1979) is composer, conductor and pianist here, which tells you something about his multitudinous talents. He has just become principal guest conductor of the Hallé, is composer-in-residence with English National Opera (with an opera due for 2017), and has just been nominated in the 2015 British composer awards. He has also won Gramophone awards for his recordings as a conductor. That’s only the half of it. This wide-ranging portrait disc, with top vocal soloists Claire Booth, Pamela Helen Stephen and Mark Padmore, includes Wigglesworth’s Augenlieder (2009) and the title work, a cantata setting of Ted Hughes’s Tales from Ovid. The three orchestral works include the glittering A First Book of Inventions and his Violin Concerto. Diverse and lyrical, wonderfully performed, this is music you need to hear.
