As good as it gets with Alwyn's orchestral music, this coupling of the two-movement Second, three-movement Third, and single-movement Fifth symphonies presents a cogent and compelling case for the composer as a modern-day Romantic. And these 1972 and 1975 recordings of the works with the composer himself leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra are the best single-disc introductions to his music. While John Barbirolli and the Hallé's early recordings of the First and Second were expansively emotional and Richard Hickox and ...
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As good as it gets with Alwyn's orchestral music, this coupling of the two-movement Second, three-movement Third, and single-movement Fifth symphonies presents a cogent and compelling case for the composer as a modern-day Romantic. And these 1972 and 1975 recordings of the works with the composer himself leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra are the best single-disc introductions to his music. While John Barbirolli and the Hallé's early recordings of the First and Second were expansively emotional and Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra's digital recordings of the complete cycle were powerfully persuasive, Alwyn, a decent conductor though not in the same league as Barbirolli or Hickox, knew his music better than anyone and he finds heights and depths in it that others miss. With the keen and alert playing of the London Philharmonic, Alwyn makes the Second more thematically cogent, the Third more dramatically convincing, and the Fifth and final symphony, called "Hydriotaphia" after...
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