Naxos’s many highly-praised recordings of William Alwyn’s music have done much to revive excitement among today’s listeners for this British composer who is best known for his 200 or so film scores. His bravura Violin Concerto, the second and most substantial of his six concertos, is romantic and rhapsodic in nature. The Miss Julie Suite takes episodes from his last completed opera based on Strindberg’s tragic play, while the Fanfare for a Joyful Occasion pays tribute to the late percussionist James Blades. Juilliard School-trained violinist Lorraine McAslan has been praised by The Strad as ‘one of the most distinguished British violinists of her generation’.