Most of the music on this recording consists of arrangements of chamber music pieces by Steven Gerber (1948-2015), commissioned by the Gerber Trust to help make performances of his music more accessible for chamber orchestras, smaller symphony orchestras and string orchestras. Taken together with Gerber’s beautiful Two Lyric Pieces for Violin and Strings, they provide a fascinating overview of Gerber’s development as a composer over most of the last 20 years of his working life.

Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”, Kenneth Woods was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in 2013, and has quickly built up an impressive and acclaimed body of work and recordings with them. Woods also serves as Artistic Director of the Colorado Mahler Fest – the only US organisation other than the New York Philharmonic to receive the International Gustav Mahler Society’s Gold Medal.

Emily Davis enjoys a vibrant and international career as a violinist, spanning multiple genres as an orchestral leader, soloist and chamber musician.
Emily holds the position of Associate Leader with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She has regularly been invited as a guest Concertmaster to a number of ensembles including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra Dublin and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra to name but a few.

Since 2013, the orchestra has re-emerged as a major force in British musical life, presenting and recording the orchestra’s first full length opera (the world premiere of John Joubert’s Jane Eyre) to overwhelming critical acclaim, presenting the 2015 Classical Music Magazine “Premiere of the Year,” (Donald Fraser’s orchestration of the Elgar Piano Quintet) and releasing a triumphant series of recordings.

Founded by William Boughton in 1980, the ESO have a long and distinguished History of collaboration with legendary figures of British music making.