Gramophone Magazine
March 2021
Editor's Choice

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Jac van Steen

Matthews, D: Toward Sunrise
Matthews, D: Symphony No. 8, Op. 131
Matthews, D: Sinfonia
Matthews, D: A Vision of the Sea

A frequent collaborator with both the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Jac van Steen, David Matthews' recording explores both the natural world and the symphonic idea, the second of which has, in his words, 'obsessed me since I started composing at the age of 16'. As well as the 'Sinfonia' and 'Symphony No. 8', the programme includes 'Toward Sunrise'; inspired by the sound of the sun (a rising fourth of C-F), as recorded by scientists at Sheffield University and 'A Vision of the Sea'; drawn from the sights and sounds of the English Channel near the composer's home in Deal, Kent.

"Matthews’s Eighth projects a winning eloquence and energy without ever lapsing into ponderousness...His well-placed climaxes never pull their multicoloured punches, with imaginative orchestration admirably conveyed in these finely played and excellently engineered recordings...The world of nature is never far away in Matthews’s music, and two other recent orchestral works bear witness to his delight in contexts where haunting fragments of birdsong can emerge." - Gramophone Magazine, March 2021.