Dutton’s third John McCabe programme is again built around a piano concerto (10/03, 2/04), in this instance the First (1966) in a strong, vibrant performance from the composer himself. I have long been amazed why this splendid work, written for the 1967 Southport Centenary Festival, has not been recorded before (McCabe’s omission from Naxos’s British Piano Concerto series is a glaring fault) so Dutton’s committed advocacy is unequivocally to be welcomed.

The concerto’s rhythmic élan is a feature prominent in most of his output, including Pilgrim for double string orchestra (1998, arranged from a string sextet original). Although Bunyan’s book was the inspiration, the single-span Pilgrim is not illustrative, rather a slow fantasia with two quicker sections, like a scherzo and trio in negative. As with the concerto’s finale, Pilgrim shows how danceable McCabe’s concert music is (several works have been successfully choreographed).

The largest item is a suite from his recent ballet diptych, Arthur (1998-2001), the four movements deriving from the first part, Arthur Pendragon, all but the finale from its first act. The vigour and drive of “Uther and the Tribes” and “The Tourney” (in which Arthur draws Excalibur from the Stone) contrast with the poignant beauty of “Igraine and Uther”. The finale, “The Lovers”, is a complex conflation of two pas de deux for Lancelot and Guinevere and the ballet’s climax, Arthur’s vain and misguided massacre of the innocents (attempting to destroy the infant Mordred). Powerful stuff, the BBC Scottish SO’s performance under Christopher Austin is inspired. With excellent sound, this issue is very strongly recommended.