Stephen Dodgson is the approachable face of contemporary music. After the success of Dodgson’s String Quartets on Dutton Epoch, we are now pleased to release a survey of Dodgson’s orchestral movements that he calls ‘Essays for Orchestra’. Dodgson’s memorable treatment of the orchestra is exciting and lyrical by turns, and is played in fine style by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. Hearing the first five played as a sequence gives a musical experience of symphonic dimensions, but the advantage of having them on CD is that favourite numbers can be lifted out at any time.