In opera, the orchestra creates the subconscious, the backstory, and the soundscape of the drama. Brooding and dark, overwhelming and passionate, or edgy and biting, the orchestra's sound guides our imagination, and when released from its supporting role in the pit the result can be a thrilling experience of musical storytelling.

This album celebrates the music of four of today’s most distinguished opera composers. The Three-Piece Suite from Thomas Adès’s modern classic Powder Her Face sparkles and sizzles; Nico Muhly’s Liar Suite from Marnie is a taut psychodrama in symphonic form; Matthew Aucoin distills his moving operatic version of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice into a haunting tone poem and sketches an as-yet-unwritten opera in Heath; and Jonathan Dove’s luminously beautiful Stargazer, subtitled “an opera for trombone and orchestra”, offers a lyrical showcase for its virtuosic soloist.

For this album of world-premiere recordings, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, led by contemporary music specialist Timothy Redmond, is joined by the virtuoso trombone superstar Peter Moore.