The cellist Paul Watkins and his pianist brother Huw present this fourth volume of British works for cello and piano. ‘Remain[ing] by far the best recorded guides to this powerful and enjoyable repertoire’, according to BBC Music, the Watkins brothers continue their exploration of what became a very rich and popular repertoire in British musical life of the last decades of the twentieth century, thanks to inspiring star soloists such as Paul Tortelier, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Jacqueline du Pré.

Largely self-taught as a composer, Elisabeth Lutyens adopted a very special system of rhythmic notation, laid out in free time without bar lines, using three symbols for notes of different lengths. The ‘constants’ of the title are four melodic and harmonic intervals which are used exclusively throughout the work.

August 2015

“In bringing together four highly contrasting British composers of the later 20th century, this vibrant recording, with splendid playing by Paul and Huw Watkins, demonstrates the extent of the cello's inspiration and versatility in a range of modern idioms.”

Gramophone Magazine, August 2015

“This latest volume of Paul and Huw Watkins's survey of British cello works showcases the expressive range of the instrument which emerged through later 20th-century composition, with adventurous works that exploded the cello's reputation as a primarily lyrical instrument by demonstrating its more mercurial qualities”

BBC Music Magazine, October 2015