Symphony No. 4 (2018)
Hommage to Kandinsky (Symphonic Poem - 2014)

You know that powerful emotion you get, that goosebump inducing rush you feel when music generates an uplifting and well-attained upshot. That's precisely what I experience every time I hear the intense coda of the expansive Adagio third movement which concludes the Symphony No. 4 by British composer Philip Sawyers (b. 1951). And that explains why the composer himself states in the booklet notes: My Fourth Symphony is in three movements. "Why?" might be a reasonable question. The answer is simply that by the time the third movement was complete, there was nothing more to say. And for me it's not just the mighty and powerful impact of the final chords that does it, but rather how the music got there ... how the conflicting ideas get resolved in the end, or how all of the smaller, less significant building blocks end up producing such an impressive edifice. And this intuitive control over symphonic development is highly apparent in Philip Sawyers' music. The journey may not be a walk in the park, and the road ahead may be strewn with obstacles, but all the more rewarding when you reach your destination. When listening to this symphony, I hear the slight influence of composers like Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich, Bela Bartok, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and more specifically that of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for some reason. It's comforting to know that even though we are well into the 21st century, some composers still write music as if it was the start of the 20th century.

Conductor Kenneth Woods and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales perform this "new" music as if it were a long established standard of the repertoire. Highly nuanced orchestration details are manifest, and a firm control on forward momentum is always apparent. Great sound and unwavering playing throughout. Tip of the hat to Nimbus Alliance for travelling down this uncharted road.

With the ludicrous amount of music I listen to on a daily basis, over the years I've had to overlook or bypass altogether the music of some composers whilst focusing my attention elsewhere. It's unfortunate that until I heard this new recording of Philip Sawyers' Fourth Symphony, I had not heard one single note of his music. Now that I have, this is an omission I plan to rectify.