New Zealand-born composer Jenny McLeod’s wide musical background is here distilled into three works of highly enjoyable directness.

The Emperor and the Nightingale is a colourful score which accompanies the narration of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, and Three Celebrations conjures scenes of landscape and recreation familiar to New Zealanders.

Performed by Grand Prix du Disque Liszt winning soloist Eugene Albulescu, the virtuoso Rock Concerto draws on popular music styles, placing these references in a strongly classical structure.

Sales Points • Jenny McLeod will be a new name to most in the northern hemisphere but, given works as widely appealing as the three in this program, we are confident that this will be a popular choice for collectors seeking an accessible and durable introduction to contemporary music.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is a standard bearer of quality for this release, being already established as a world class recording unit with its acclaimed cycle of Sibelius Symphonies and other releases on Naxos.

Uwe Grodd first gained worldwide recognition when he won First Prize at the Cannes Classical Awards 2000, for the Best 18th Century Orchestral Recording with his CD of Symphonies by JB Vanhal (8554341). Two further recordings of music by Hummel have been the Gramophone Editor’s Choice in 2004 (8557193) and 2008 (8557845).