ALLAN STEPHENSON (b.1949): Cello Concerto, Concerto for Double Bass and Small Orchestra, Burlesque for Double Bass and Small Orchestra.

Description: This composer was born in England but has spent his adult career as cellist, conductor and composer in South Africa. The two works for double bass (1974 and 2005 for the concerto) are just this side of high quality light music: gorgeous melodies (you may have never heard a double bass sing like this), lush orchestration, easy communication to the audience. The 2004 cello concerto is on a somewhat grander scale (a 16-minute first movement with extensive cadenzas) and much closer to a late 19th-century conception of a concerto; but still, arching lyricism, gorgeous melodies and rich, colorful orchestration. Impossible not to like. Peter Martens (cello), Leon Bosch (double bass), Cape Philharmonic Orchestra; Allan Stephenson.