Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Where John Wilson goes, adventurous listeners would do well to follow. Showing an eclectic taste, Wilson has explored original versions of Broadway musicals and off-the-beaten-track composers like Eric Coates, Richard Rodney Bennett and Kenneth Fuchs.There is one pointer towards the composers he favours. Many have a flair for popular appeal and that can also be said for his latest choice, Edward MacDowell (1860-1908). American by birth, German by training, MacDowell wrote music that is gratifyingly, lavishly romantic.The works that have appeared most prominently on recordings in the past are his piano concertos. The Piano Concerto No 1 is included here and one does not need to be told that MacDowell admired Grieg, as the heroic piano part, the sweeping energy and attractive melodies all advertise the fact. Xiayin Wang is a soloist of appropriate flair.Maybe lesser performances of some of the orchestral pieces would reveal them as relatively weak and derivative, but not in this case. Wilson relishes their late-Romantic manner and fires up the drama, seconded by the BBC Philharmonic at the top of its game.The other major works are two tone poems, Lancelot und Elaine, which is positively Wagnerian in its mythic grandeur, and the more intricate Lamia, inspired by Keats. The disc, which is said to be the first of a series, is completed by two fragments from MacDowell’s The Song of Roland and an arrangement of his most popular number, the short, engagingly tuneful To a Wild Rose.★★★★☆‘Edward MacDowell: Piano Concerto No 1 and Tone Poems’ is released by Chandos
