Symphony No. 11 (Simpson)

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The Symphony No. 11 by Robert Simpson was composed in 1990 and dedicated to the conductor and composer Matthew Taylor, who gave the premiere at Cheltenham Town Hall with the City of London Sinfonia on 15 July, 1991. As with two of his earlier symphonies, he adopts chamber orchestral forces and, whilst it is in no sense a chamber symphony, the effect is often chamber musical. The work is in two substantial movements.

The first movement is a lyrical Andante which, for a large part of the argument, is sparsely scored. The movement is always developing, gradually increasing in contrapuntal activity and eventually reaching a climax before ending in a peaceful coda.

The following movement is a large scale Allegro vivace, beginning with flickering woodwind. It has a certain sense of dynamic, forward moving energy. Material is well developed before the movement culminatively moves to an optimistic climax which is brought home by a diminuendo timpani roll. Following is a suprisingly witty coda in which Simpson seems to dismiss all his symphonic inventions off 'into thin air'.

[edit] Discography

Currently, the only commercially available CD is a Hyperion Records performed by the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Matthew Taylor.^[1] The work is coupled with a performance of Simpson's Variations on a theme of Carl Nielsen for Orchestra.