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R. Simpson - Symphonies nos. 2 and 4
 
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R. Simpson - Symphonies nos. 2 and 4

~ Robert [composer] Simpson (Composer), Vernon Handley (Conductor), Bournemouth Sinfonietta (Orchestra)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: £11.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this with Simpson: Symphonies nos. 3 and 5 ~ Robert Simpson

R. Simpson - Symphonies nos. 2 and 4 + Simpson: Symphonies nos. 3 and 5
Price For Both: £24.67

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Product details

  • Orchestra: Bournemouth Sinfonietta
  • Conductor: Vernon Handley
  • Composer: Robert [composer] Simpson
  • Audio CD (1 Jan 2000)
  • SPARS Code: DDD
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Hyperion
  • ASIN: B000002ZPQ
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 173,135 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #9 in  Music > Classical Instrumental > Composers > Q-T > Simpson
    #93 in  Music > Classical Instrumental > Performers > A-Z > A-B > Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

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Track Listings

1. Symphony No. 2: Allegro grazioso
2. Symphony No. 2: Largo cantabile
3. Symphony No. 2: Non troppo allegro, ma con brio
4. Symphony No. 4: Allegro moderato
5. Symphony No. 4: Presto
6. Symphony No. 4: Andante
7. Symphony No. 4: Allegro vivace
On this CD:
  1. Symphony No. 2
    Composed by Robert Simpson
    Performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
    Conducted by Vernon Handley

  2. Symphony No. 4
    Composed by Robert Simpson
    Performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
    Conducted by Vernon Handley

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Energy and intellect - the Simpsonian challenge, 1 Jul 2001
By A Customer
Simpson initiates will know roughly what to expect: this music zings with explosive energy, yet is as rigorously structured as any; it abounds with Beethovenian springing rhythms and there are the usual faint echos of Nielson, yet all influences are fused in a distinctive, coherent compositional voice. Easy listening it certainly isn't; it's easy to forget just how abrasive Simpson's music can sound on a first hearing. The music demands attention and sometimes shouts in order to get it, and you may initially find this stridency exhausting. However, devote a little time to this recording and exhaustion will quickly be replaced by exhilaration. Moreover, the music is not all pounding energy - both symphonies include slow movements of great beauty and intensity. Particularly remarkable is the palindromic largo of the 2nd symphony: halfway through the movement the music goes into reverse gear, so that the first and second halves of the movement are mirror images. It is extraordinary to hear a climax which happened in the first half "unhappening" in the second! The listener's appreciation of such masterstrokes is greatly enhanced by excellent sleeve notes, with musical examples. This recording is urgently recommended to all who are prepared to take up the Simpsonian challenge.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An original and invigorating sound world that demands to be heard, 21 Jun 2009
By J. A. Peacock "adalard" (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
If you have been toying with the idea of investigating Robert Simpson's orchestral music, this issue of two of his most approachable and good-humoured works might be a good place to start.

The second symphony starts in a deceptively understated way, with a bright string figure - I say "deceptively understated" because this half hour piece contains passages of fierce energy as well as serene music of great beauty. As the music progresses, this perfectly balanced movement ascends to two great climaxes before returning to the mood of the beginning. Simpson's orchestration has always seemed to me to be something of a marvel and doesn't always get the critical due it deserves: his textures are admirably lucid and he knows exactly what effect to get from the instruments. As the previous reviewer has pointed out, the second movement is an extraordinarily assured palindrome. Like the first movement, there are two climaxes, which frame a central section of limpid beauty and calm - this is music of imaginative poetry. The finale has a Beethovenian fierceness to it. There is not much chance for repose here as Simpson's timpani-driven music works its way to the succinct closing bars; there is an obsessive quality to the expression, but the music never loses its sense of good humour. It's an invigorating end to what I think is Simpson's most Classical symphony. The orchestra used is the standard Classical one too, as might have been used by Beethoven or late Haydn - something that might surprise you when you listen to the sheer power Simpson elicits from it.

The fourth symphony also starts with a passage that belies the massive releases of energy to come. It is also a good-humoured movement and traces a colourful passage to a massive climax which abruptly collapses into a quiet coda. It's a welcome opportunity to draw breath before the monumental scherzo erupts from the score - this movement is based upon the scherzo of Beethoven's ninth symphony and is written on a comparable scale; it shares that movements propulsive force too and the music is carried forward with irresistible momentum. The witty trio pits a theme from a Haydn symphony against increasingly ferocious interjections from the full orchestra - not that the Haydn theme seems to be at all fazed and it proceeds quite blithely along its course to delightfully comic effect.

The third movement offers the first sustained period of serenity in this dynamic work; its long breathed theme is worked out in exquisitely transparent counterpoint. It has long been one of my favourite Simpson slow movements, with the string writing perfectly judged and the horn used to wonderful poetic effect. The finale continues `attaca' from this movement and Simpson returns to the music of the first movement - it's as if the development of those materials has been held in suspension during the scherzo and slow movement. There is something of the potency of the finale of the second symphony here, but also something rather more genial too; the coda introduces a waltz-like melody but the closing bars return to a state of obsessively stated energy. I heard this symphony performed at the South Bank in London in the mid-1990s: this is fierce music, but it's also exultant music of viscerally uplifting impact and this recording perfectly captures that life-affirming quality.

Hyperion's Simpson cycle justifiably won many plaudits for its sound quality; this disc shows that sound quality at its very best and the recording has admirable range and depth. In Vernon Handley, Simpson couldn't have wished for a more committed advocate for his distinctive music. His sound world remains essentially tonal but his own answer to the crisis in tonality at the end of the nineteenth century derives in part - like that of his Danish contemporary, Vagn Holmboe - from Carl Nielsen's `emergent' or `progressive' tonality. Simpson never had much truck with the alternative response of serial and twelve-tone music but his corpus of works, I think, posits a different path that still sounds resolutely modern and proves that there is still life in tonal functions. In some of his later works I have felt that, while still producing great music, Simpson's intellectual rigour is partnered by an increased emotional austerity - this disc offers a way into his original sound world that is more easily accessible. These symphonies form part of one the most important British symphony cycles of the 20th century - I urge you to give them a hearing.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

R. Simpson - Symphonies nos. 2 and 4
54% buy the item featured on this page:
R. Simpson - Symphonies nos. 2 and 4 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£11.98
Robert Simpson: Symphony No. 9
46% buy
Robert Simpson: Symphony No. 9 4.9 out of 5 stars (7)
£12.69
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