Versatility is a defining quality of the British composer Sally Beamish (born 1956), as the soloists here remind us: James Crabb plays melancholic accordion in The Singing; Branford Marsalis is the lyrical saxophonist in Under the Wing of the Rock (originally for viola but in this version for alto sax and strings); Håkan Hardenberger takes the virtuosic solo in the brassy, urban Trumpet Concerto. Beamish acknowledges her musical debts to her adopted home - in the traditional music, the landscape and the history of Scotland, borrowing from skirl of bagpipes, Gaelic singing and birdsong. A Cage of Doves conjures the Orkney landscape, celebrated in the writings of George Mackay Brown. Atmospheric, keenly felt and expertly played by all.
