Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Jac van Steen

David Matthews had already started on his concerto when he visited Lundy Island, where he found himself 'suffused in blue'.  The experience inspired him to conceive the rest of the work as a search for the ultimate blueness, hence the title: Concerto in Azzurro

Fashioned in a single sweeping movement, the work's most lyrical phrases, high on the cello's A string, are those that capture this notion of a big and blissful blue sky.  Cellist Guy Johnston gave a performance that was less flamboyant than that of Steven Isserlis, who first aired the work, yet it was tightly focused and always engaging.

Rian Evans