Craig Armstrong: Memory Takes My Hand (2008)

Craig Armstrong is a Scottish composer and onetime jazz pianist whose mainly made his mark in film, contributing scores to films by directors Baz Luhrmann, including Moulin Rouge, Simon West, and to television fare such as Six Feet Under; he has also made arrangements for Massive Attack, Madonna, and U2. Since about 2002, Armstrong has sought to broaden into the concert sphere. Virgin Classics' Memory Take My Hand is Armstrong's first album of orchestral, essentially non-cinematic music, and while it is not perfect, it is ... Read More

Craig Armstrong is a Scottish composer and onetime jazz pianist whose mainly made his mark in film, contributing scores to films by directors Baz Luhrmann, including Moulin Rouge, Simon West, and to television fare such as Six Feet Under; he has also made arrangements for Massive Attack, Madonna, and U2. Since about 2002, Armstrong has sought to broaden into the concert sphere. Virgin Classics' Memory Take My Hand is Armstrong's first album of orchestral, essentially non-cinematic music, and while it is not perfect, it is ambitious and takes a step in what seems like the right direction for Armstrong. Immer (2007) is a violin concerto written for soloist Clio Gould and performed here by its dedicatee with the support of the BBC Symphony under Garry Walker. It is in a single movement and evolves from a continuous thread of argument. It is attractive, though one would have to be wholly unfamiliar with contemporary British music not to notice some correspondence between this work and the approach of Gavin... Read Less