Tony Banks: Six Pieces for Orchestra

Tony Banks is best known as one of the founders of Genesis, and he was responsible for writing most of the band's material. He developed a career in film scoring beginning in the 1970s, and after the turn of the century he also turned his attention to writing purely orchestral music. Six Pieces for Orchestra, released in 2012, is his second orchestral album, the first being Seven: A Suite for Orchestra, from 2004. Here Banks is joined by composer and conductor Paul Englishby, who contributed to the pieces' development and orchestrated them. Banks' evocatively titled works are melodic and warmly neo-Romantic, with a broad, cinematic sweep. Violinist Charlie Siem and alto sax player Martin Robertson each have a track on which they're featured soloists. Englishby conducts the City of Prague Philharmonic on this Naxos release.