Review: Musical Opinion November - December 2002 Anthony Milner died on 22 September in Spain. He was 77. His obituary is in the early pages of this issue and welcomes Claudio's timely reissue of these two digitally re-mastered by Colin Attwell. They were recorded in BBC's Maida Vale Studio 1 on 11 November 1984 with the highly experienced Andrew Keener as Producer. The Conductor Lionel Friend was one of Milner's students and brings a special understanding to these scores. The BBCSO obviously relished the craftsmanship in Milner's scoring and the Leader, Morris Brett, ensured that the strings were warm and silky. The Variations for Orchestra were first heard at the 1959 Cheltenham Festival and I well remember Sir John Barbirolli virtually bouncing onto the platform before they began. This may have been the impetus for, and background to, the work, and ....continued in right-hand panel				....from left-hand panel although the composer details the event with which each variation is concerned, the score is best heard as an abstract continuous piece. The score of Milner's First Symphony is headed by a quotation by John Keats' Endymion and is in seven uninterrupted sections, thematically integrated and leading to a remarkably triumphant finale. This CD offers a good introduction to the music of the composer whose personal reticence in that capacity undoubtedly contributed to his music's unjust neglect. Perhaps we can now hope for further CDs possibly from the recordings which lie in the BBC's archives. To some extent the 15 variations, divided into groups of five, offer a single structure, three movement symphony, strongly inspired by the Rosary whose so called "mysteries" consist of meditations on events in the lives of Christ and His Mother.