Part of the 21st C Symphony Project

Symphony no. 9
Variations for Strings
Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Strings
Sara Trickey – violin, Sarah-Jane Bradley – viola
Kenneth Woods – conductor

“a lovely symphony, an altogether personal utterance by a composer who lives and breathes symphonic form, who writes out of love for each and every instrument of the orchestra. Kenneth Woods conducts the sweet serenity that is the English Symphony Orchestra…. music to hold close and to savour…” Norman Lebrecht
“…a highly impressive composition..splendidly served by Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra…an important release.” MusicWeb

Walton’s Façade is a wild and witty music-theatre masterpiece – a stunning setting of Dame Edith Sitwell’s nonsense poetry that has delighted and entertained audiences for nearly a hundred years.

Façade is coupled here with a selection of some of the wildest and wackiest selections from the annals of British song, from Noel Coward’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen to the madcap The Night I Appeared as MacBeth, among many other favourites.

One of the Ten Best Classical CDs of 2018

The Arts Desk

Kenneth Woods’ symphonic orchestration of Brahms’ lyrical Piano Quartet in A major
“Hopefully this new addition to the Brahms symphonic canon will get the widespread dissemination it certainly deserves… Kenneth Woods has grasped this nettle and produced an absolutely imaginative arrangement.” Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine

English Symphony Orchestra
Pavel Šporcl violin
Kenneth Woods conductor

Programme

Matthew Taylor Symphony no. 5 (world premiere, 21st Century Symphony Project)
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Beethoven Symphony No. 5

The English Symphony Orchestra makes its Cadogan Hall debut with one of the most popular and iconic works in the repertoire, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, heard here alongside the brand-new Fifth Symphony from leading British symphonist, Matthew Taylor. Pavel Šporcl, one of Europe’s most popular soloists, rounds out the programme with Mendelssohn’s much loved Violin Concerto.

Philip Sawyers

(ESO Composer Laureate)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
The Valley of Vision (Tone Poem for Orchestra inspired by paintings of Samuel Palmer)
Trumpet Concerto
Elegiac Rhapsody in Memory of John McCabe
–Alexander Sitkovetsky – violin, Simon Desbruslais – trumpet, Kenneth Woods Conductor

“Sawyers’ thrilling orchestral music truly captivates, aided and abetted by pitch-perfect soloists Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) and Simon Desbruslais (trumpet) and the ESO.” BBC Music Magazine