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

Record label  Nimbus Alliance
Recording code  NI 6382
Number of discs  1
Total playing time  63’55
Release date  2019
Buy from  Amazon

Recorded at  St George’s, Bristol
Recorded on  8 May 2018
Orchestra / ensemble  English Symphony Orchestra
Conductor  Kenneth Woods

Includes the following works:

Track		Duration		Sample		Work
1-5		26'43		Play		Symphony No.9, Op.140
6-15		17'49				Variations on Bach's Chorale Die Nacht ist Kommen, Op.40
16-18		18'50				Double Concerto, Op.122

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.