These three major British concertos span fully 70 years. Kenneth Leighton’s Concerto is a work of tensile urgency, scored with great imagination, and ending in an arch-like Epilogue of impassioned intensity. Written for soloist and string orchestra, the Concerto by Gordon Jacob contains at its heart a threnodic slow movement cast in long, moving paragraphs and accompanied by poetic effects. Written for (and premiered by) the soloist in this recording, Paul Patterson’s Violin Concerto No.2 (‘Serenade’) is rich in high spirits; songlike, wistful and exuberantly sparkling.

Clare Howick’s interest in 20th-century British violin repertoire has resulted in a number of premieres and recordings. Her Naxos recordings of violin works by British Women Composers, Cyril Scott’s Violin Sonatas Nos. 1–3, and British Music for Violin and Piano have received Editor’s Choice in Classical Music magazine, Recording of the Month on MusicWeb International, and Recommended Recording on BBC Radio 3 Record Review. Howick has an extensive concerto repertoire, including Patterson’s Violin Concerto No.2 (‘Serenade’) which was composed for her, and has performed with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra. In addition to her solo and chamber performances, at venues including the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall, she has broadcast on the BBC, in the US, Canada and New Zealand.