John McCabe: Symphonies 2 & 3 and Cello Concerto album review – writing about great size and quality | Classical music

John McCabewho died in 2015, made important recordings of other people’s music – he inspired Carl Nielsen, and his study of Haydn’s complete piano sonatas has been active in the Decca catalog for half a century – but when it comes to his works there are still gaps to be filled. Alongside Symphony No 2, completed in 1971, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Woods are now presenting the first recordings of McCabe’s 2007 cello concerto Songline and 1978 Symphony No 3.

The Symphony No 2 is difficult and difficult, a meditation on the nature of violence; the cello concerto, the theme of which is inspired by ancient Aboriginal techniques, is restless in a different, exploratory way, which soloist Raphael Wallfisch captures vividly. What’s interesting and interesting about all of this is the clarity of McCabe’s music, his style clearly defined by his writing of great colors and dimensions. Symphony No 3, Hommages, lives in the realm of sound, weaving in the grandeur of Haydn and Nielsen while looking elsewhere – one passage with steady strings and celeste could be Shostakovich’s re-imagining of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Brilliantly acted and brilliant throughout, the actors do all three roles justice.

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