Symphony No 7!
In recognition of Gustav Mahler’s 150th anniversary this year, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in association with the BBC Philharmonic and resident Hallé Orchestra, presented all the Mahler symphonies during the season. Each symphony was prefaced by a specially commissioned work, and it was natural that David Matthews (whose connections with and sympathies for Mahler are well-known) should be one of the composers selected. As it happened, Matthews' own Symphony No 7
was the prelude to a fantastic performance of Mahler’s Seventh by the BBC Philharmonic under their principal conductor, Gianandrea Noseda.
The recent spate of recordings of David Matthews’ earlier symphonies have led to a burdgeoning recognition that in him we have a major British symphonist! Matthews’ 7th Symphony proved no exception to this view. His unrivalled talents as a supreme orchestrator and ability to sustain a striking lyricism throughout a well-balanced structure, inspired the performers to give of their best and the audience responded with huge enthusiasm.
5* review in The Guardian
‘… a single-movement, four-section work that also has great beauty and richness. It rings endless changes on a rapturous viola melody, heard at the outset over tremulous violins, and reaches its climax with a dexterous percussion cadenza before bounding towards an exuberant close. Breathtakingly scored, it was superbly played.'
‘… a single-movement, four-section work that also has great beauty and richness. It rings endless changes on a rapturous viola melody, heard at the outset over tremulous violins, and reaches its climax with a dexterous percussion cadenza before bounding towards an exuberant close. Breathtakingly scored, it was superbly played.'
Guardian (Tim Ashley), 27 April 2010
‘… What makes Matthews’s music lovable is the way it embraces straightforwardly tonal means, with no tricksy post-modern irony or agonised breast-beating. This new symphony goes further in the direction of limpid simplicity. It takes daring to place a guileless melody over a row of major chords, but lending those things a subtle shapeliness and pregnant suggestiveness needs art, too, which this symphony had in abundance.’
Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 27 April 2010
‘… What makes Matthews’s music lovable is the way it embraces straightforwardly tonal means, with no tricksy post-modern irony or agonised breast-beating. This new symphony goes further in the direction of limpid simplicity. It takes daring to place a guileless melody over a row of major chords, but lending those things a subtle shapeliness and pregnant suggestiveness needs art, too, which this symphony had in abundance.’
Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 27 April 2010
‘…Matthews has emerged as a leading 21st-Century exponent of the form’
‘... artfully and beautifully composed... there is a splendid cadenza for timpani which is the grand climax of the work, and also the signal for a slow, shadowy Tenebroso section which moves out of darkness into the boisterous energy of the coda.’
The Times (Hilary Finch)
'A gloriously expansive, cantabile opening melody, stated initially on violas over shimmering violins, was sufficiently weighty and protean to provide the material for the rest of the work. A couple of quicker, scherzo-like episodes paved the way for a magnificent climax, featuring a thrillingly extended cadenza for timpani that concluded with a portentous chord crowned by six fateful drumbeats. There followed a darker more measured episode measured Tenebroso, which shifted, after a short recollection of the scherzo, to a full repeat of the memorable, lyrical opening material. A dynamic and exuberant extended coda, fuelled by whooping horns, was eventually steadied before the defiantly trenchant D major conclusion. It was a very positive, definitive ending which the composer suggested could be regarded as a summing-up of all his previous symphonies.
This riveting first performance was deeply satisfying and expertly realised, the BBC players and Noseda seeming to relish the chance to tackle a technically demanding and skillfully-scored new piece which also had the capacity to communicate directly with the audience… Taut and compact its structure was instinct with the breadth, catholicity and inevitability that denote a natural symphonist.'
Tempo (Paul Conway), October 2010
The 21-minute symphony was presented to audiences on Saturday 24 April, at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. The world premiere did lack one particular audience member – the composer himself, who was stranded in Australia due to the volcanic ash transport crisis, which disrupted so many events early in 2010.
Symphonies on disc!
Record label Dutton Epoch released dedicated recordings of Matthews’ symphonies – most recently his symphonies 2 & 6 which have proved to be a hit with critics this summer.
The Times (Hilary Finch)
'A gloriously expansive, cantabile opening melody, stated initially on violas over shimmering violins, was sufficiently weighty and protean to provide the material for the rest of the work. A couple of quicker, scherzo-like episodes paved the way for a magnificent climax, featuring a thrillingly extended cadenza for timpani that concluded with a portentous chord crowned by six fateful drumbeats. There followed a darker more measured episode measured Tenebroso, which shifted, after a short recollection of the scherzo, to a full repeat of the memorable, lyrical opening material. A dynamic and exuberant extended coda, fuelled by whooping horns, was eventually steadied before the defiantly trenchant D major conclusion. It was a very positive, definitive ending which the composer suggested could be regarded as a summing-up of all his previous symphonies.
This riveting first performance was deeply satisfying and expertly realised, the BBC players and Noseda seeming to relish the chance to tackle a technically demanding and skillfully-scored new piece which also had the capacity to communicate directly with the audience… Taut and compact its structure was instinct with the breadth, catholicity and inevitability that denote a natural symphonist.'
Tempo (Paul Conway), October 2010
The 21-minute symphony was presented to audiences on Saturday 24 April, at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. The world premiere did lack one particular audience member – the composer himself, who was stranded in Australia due to the volcanic ash transport crisis, which disrupted so many events early in 2010.
Symphonies on disc!
Record label Dutton Epoch released dedicated recordings of Matthews’ symphonies – most recently his symphonies 2 & 6 which have proved to be a hit with critics this summer.
‘Matthews is among our most prodigious symphonists: he has completed seven, all adhering to tonality, all conceived on a grand scale, in pursuit of the beau idéal of full integration of material, of maximum unity with maximum contrast. Here are the first recordings of his Second and Sixth Symphonies in powerful accounts under Steen. No 2 is a four-movement single span issuing in a stentorian presto veloce. The three-movement No 6 grew outwards from its scherzo – written to commission as a variation on a hymn tune by Vaughan Williams, whose Sixth Symphony also proved an inspiration, as did Mahler’s. The movement contains a gripping cadenza for marimba and vibraphone.
The Sunday Times (Paul Driver), 21 March 2010
International Record Review OUTSTANDING!
‘From a period rich in British symphonies, Matthews’s Second is a ‘dark horse’ now coming into its own: younger composers could certainly profit by its example.
Matthews’s music may, by his own admission, have become more overtly tonal, but its depth and emotional complexity have also increased. Those looking for easy answers should steer clear, but those looking for lasting solutions are in for a treat.’
International Record Review (Richard Whitehouse), May 2010
The Sunday Times (Paul Driver), 21 March 2010
International Record Review OUTSTANDING!
‘From a period rich in British symphonies, Matthews’s Second is a ‘dark horse’ now coming into its own: younger composers could certainly profit by its example.
Matthews’s music may, by his own admission, have become more overtly tonal, but its depth and emotional complexity have also increased. Those looking for easy answers should steer clear, but those looking for lasting solutions are in for a treat.’
International Record Review (Richard Whitehouse), May 2010
‘…Matthews has emerged as a leading 21st Century exponent of the form… Learning from Tippett, Maw and others that pattern-making must always be purposeful, he shuns rhapsodic rambling and can summon up the kind of creative energy that makes the epic finale of the Second Symphony so powerful.’
Gramophone (Arnold Whittall), September 2010