Symphony No.9 – Part of the 21st Century Symphony Project

Recording details | CD contents and samples | Sleeve notes | Reviews

Recording details

  • NI 6382
  • 1 CD
  • 63'55
  • 2019
  • St George’s, Bristol on 8 May 2018
  • English Symphony Orchestra
  • Kenneth Woods

CD contents and samples

Also features works composed / arranged by:

Hayden, Mozart, Artem Vassiliev

Sleeve notes

My Ninth Symphony began in a modest way in December 2015 when I wrote a little carol for the solstice for my wife Jenifer, with words about the coming of spring. One day in January I was playing it on the piano and, beginning to improvise, I thought “I can turn this into something bigger, and why not a symphony?” I felt a little uneasy about using such a simple tune for a symphony, particularly with this number, but I was reminded of Nielsen’s Sixth, whose almost naïve opening leads to much more serious events. So my tune, now in C major instead of its original G, began to explore more complex and darker regions as my sonata-form first movement progressed. The coda gently brings back the carol, which moves unexpectedly into A flat major and a solo violin melody at the end.

I began the ‘Variations for Strings’ with two preliminary ideas. The first was that my chosen chorale theme should appear at the end rather than the beginning. Since the words of the chorale are a prayer for a peaceful night, it seemed appropriate that the chorale should be the culmination of the piece, while the variations might be seen as reflecting the activities of the day. The second idea was that the string writing should be as diverse as possible, and that all 24 players should on occasion be used as soloists.

Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola is one of my favourite works of his. I have always loved the special relationship between the two soloists: rather than rivalry, there is a sense of coming together in friendship. I have tried to express the same harmonious qualities in my own Double Concerto.

David Matthews

Reviews

Robert Matthew-Walker, Classical Source, September 2019

A serious and compelling work of consistent musical art throughout… Here, in a number of ways, is a genuine symphony for our times… In its way, Matthews 9 is a masterpiece: in wartime 1943, when Matthews was born, the population of the World was around 2.5-billion. Today, it approaches 8-billion, but whereas in 1943 one could legitimately cite more than twenty greatly significant composers active and producing music that was widely admired and which has stood the test of time, today, there is barely a handful, yet amongst them must be counted David Matthews.

Philip Scott, Limelight, August 2019

…a genuine symphonist… [whose Ninth] squeezes every drop of developmental interest out of his theme…

Guy Rickards, New Klassik, June 2019

A couple of other works on the record [Double Concerto and Variations on Bach's Chorale Die Nacht ist Kommen] confirm Matthews as a champion of England's top league of string orchestra composers, along with Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Tippett.