BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth - Howard Skempton: Lento

Lento is music of extraordinary directness and simplicity. It is an enigmatic and hypnotic work within which shifting modal chords progress through the orchestra to create a chorale-like, almost architectural form beneath a calm melodic surface; now something of a cult piece, it is NMC's most consistently-selling recording since its release in 1992.'Lento, by the British miniaturist Howard Skempton, must surely be heading for cult status� it is captivating in its simple wistfulness.'BBC Music Magazine Pick of 1992'An enigmatic orchestral chorale � like Gorecki's Third Symphony, it is stuff that cults are made of' Gramophone'First performed in 1991, Lento is a timeless piece, both an intensely personal continuation of the English pastoral tradition and a far more convincing assertion of the continuing expressive power of tonal music than anything in P�rt's world of faux-religiosity.' The Guardian