Sir Hamilton Harty was the foremost Irish composer of the early twentieth century, as well as a brilliant pianist and conductor. Many of his works, such as An Irish Symphony and With the Wild Geese, recorded on Naxos 8.554732, are overtly Celtic in character, with titles and programmes that proclaim their Irishness. The romantic Piano Concerto, retains the influence of Irish folk-music through its beguiling counter-melodies and air of lingering melancholy. The rarely heard Fantasy Scenes (From an Eastern Romance) paints a sumptuous ‘Arabian Nights’ picture of the East, as made popular at the time by RimskyKorsakov’s Scheherazade.