Three new works from David Matthews have been recorded by Jac van Steen, Emma Halnan, and the Ulster Orchestra for a portrait disc scheduled for release by SOMM in 2025: his Flute Concerto, Symphony No.11, and Anna: Symphonic Diptych.
The latter is a 33-minute compression of music from Matthews’ 2022 opera with a libretto by Roger Scruton. It charts the work’s narrative and dramatic arc, which, as Matthews writes, ‘is both a story of love culminating in death, and of forgiveness’, following the emotional pattern of its two acts. ‘Anna in Love’ paints a picture of Anna and her brother Peter, as well as her love interest Miro; their feelings for each other are sketched by a duet for flute and cor anglais, following his ebullient introduction by solo trumpet. ‘Lament for Anna’ is imbued with dark foreboding as events take their tragic turn; the piece concludes with quiet reflection, as Peter and Miro find solace in their shared sadness, as the music settles into a subdued D major.
Emma Halnan is soloist in Matthews’ new Flute Concerto. The 20-minute work is for an orchestra of Classical proportions, with added sparkle from an optional tambourine, and cast in a traditional three-movement shape. Its first, a gentle allegretto combined with a fast waltz, is inspired by Nielsen’s famous concerto for the instrument in its harmonically expansive journey. A D-flat major slow movement is punctuated by a livelier allegretto that dances in celebration of Pan. The finale draws on a tune written for Matthews’ wife Jennifer one Christmas and features an energetic dance with an Irish flavour. Halnan previously premiered Matthews’ miniature for solo flute A Dance for Emma and has performed it widely since its 2022 debut; she has also given numerous performances of Matthews’ 2011 quartet for flute and string trio A Blackbird Sang.
The disc also features Matthews’ Symphony No.11. The 17-minute work is cast in one movement and draws structural inspiration from his earlier explorations of the form. Its formal architecture is made up of chaconnes, scherzos, and sequences of variations, with ebullient Vivace sections and emotionally effusive melodies. The horn writing, whose music suggests calls to arms and forested landscapes, is partly an homage to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – one of the composer’s favourite books.
The recording sees Jac van Steen continue his abiding interest in Matthews’ music, which he has previously explored with the Ulster Orchestra. In August 2023 he conducted Matthews’ Symphony No.9 and Dark Pastoral, Matthews’ 2010 realisation of the surviving fragment of Vaughan Williams’ 1942 Cello Concerto, as part of their annual BBC Radio 3 Summer Invitation concert series. In July that year he gave the world premiere of Anna at the Grange Festival, in a concert performance with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; in 2022 he premiered Matthews’ Symphony No.10 with the BBC Philharmonic.