The Symphony No. 3 by Robert Simpson was written in 1962 and dedicated to veteran composer

Havergal Brian Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-know ...

. The premiere was given by the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

on 14 March 1963 under the conductor

Hugo Rignold Hugo Henry Rignold (15 May 1905 – 30 May 1976) was an English conductor and violinist, who is best remembered as musical director of the Royal Ballet (1957–1960) and conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1960–1968). Aft ...

. Its BBC Proms premiere was given by the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

on 21 August 1967 under the conductor

Charles Groves Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors. After accompanying positions and conducting ...

. The US premiere was given by the

Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra The Oklahoma City Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. History As is the case with many American symphony orchestras, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic owes a degree of its heritage to two predecessor profes ...

on 8 December 1974 under its then music director,

Ainslee Cox Ainslee Cox (June 22, 1936, Big Spring, Texas – September 5, 1988, New York City) was an American conductor. A graduate of Westminster Choir College and the University of Texas at Austin, he was associate conductor of the American Symphony Orchest ...

. The orchestration is fairly standard, except Simpson required all three flutes to double on piccolos. The work lasts about 31 minutes in performance (both recorded performances time in at a few seconds under that figure) and is in two movements: *Allegro ma non troppo *Adagio - Presto In two movements, this Symphony conflicts C major and B-flat. The first movement is a dissonant, craggy sonata-allegro in B flat which strays into the orbit of C. The model of this movement has some parallels with the first movement of Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, but it is still highly individual. Simpson described the second movement as 'a huge composed accelerando, but with the dynamics repressed'. It is really a slow movement and finale, and the tempo is always increasing. The movement takes a good while to climax. There is a sort of scherzo section in the middle, and the music is always developing, with motives evolving and increasing in familiarity. The movement eventually climaxes, and at this point a great fortissimo blaze on the dominant seventh of C major is played from the orchestra. The climax subsides to a quiet close in C major (the key which eventually prevailed), although B flat can still be heard.

Discography

The symphony was first recorded on 5 June 1970 by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

conducted by

Jascha Horenstein Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн; – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor. Biography Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fro ...

for the Unicorn (later

Unicorn-Kanchana Unicorn-Kanchana is a British independent record label founded by John Goldsmith (died 2020), a former London police officer. Originally known as Unicorn Records, the name Kanchana was added later to distinguish the company from Unicorn Digital o ...

) label and was issued on LP in September 1970. It was reissued on CD, coupled with Simpson's Clarinet Quintet, in the 'Unicorn-Kanchana Souvenir Series' in June 1990. The recording was released again on the NMC label in 2006. A

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...

release which also includes Symphony No. 5, both performed by the

conducted by

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, Middle ...

, was recorded on 24 May 1994 and released later that year;Andrew Jacksons,
Recordings and Reviews of Simpson's Works
. Accessed 4 March 2008 in 2006 it was re-released as part of a Hyperion boxed set of Simpson's complete symphonies. A pirated recording of Jascha Horenstein rehearsing this Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 5 May 1966 was issued on CD in 1992 by the Italian record company Intaglio, coupled with a performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.

References

{{Authority control 1962 compositions 03