In recognition of Gustav Mahler’s 150th anniversary this year, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in association with the BBC Philharmonic and resident Hallé Orchestra, presented all the Mahler symphonies during the season.
Each symphony was prefaced by a specially commissioned work, and it was natural that David Matthews (whose connections with and sympathies for Mahler are well-known) should be one of the composers selected. As it happened, Matthews' own Symphony No 7 was the prelude to a fantastic performance of Mahler’s Seventh by the BBC Philharmonic under their principal conductor, Gianandrea Noseda.
Each symphony was prefaced by a specially commissioned work, and it was natural that David Matthews (whose connections with and sympathies for Mahler are well-known) should be one of the composers selected. As it happened, Matthews' own Symphony No 7 was the prelude to a fantastic performance of Mahler’s Seventh by the BBC Philharmonic under their principal conductor, Gianandrea Noseda.
The recent spate of recordings of David Matthews’ earlier symphonies have led to a burdgeoning recognition that in him we have a major British symphonist! Matthews’ 7th Symphony proved no exception to this view. His unrivalled talents as a supreme orchestrator and ability to sustain a striking lyricism throughout a well-balanced structure, inspired the performers to give of their best and the audience responded with huge enthusiasm.
5* review in The Guardian
‘… a single-movement, four-section work that also has great beauty and richness. It rings endless changes on a rapturous viola melody, heard at the outset over tremulous violins, and reaches its climax with a dexterous percussion cadenza before bounding towards an exuberant close. Breathtakingly scored, it was superbly played.'
Guardian (Tim Ashley), 27 April 2010
‘… What makes Matthews’s music lovable is the way it embraces straightforwardly tonal means, with no tricksy post-modern irony or agonised breast-beating. This new symphony goes further in the direction of limpid simplicity. It takes daring to place a guileless melody over a row of major chords, but lending those things a subtle shapeliness and pregnant suggestiveness needs art, too, which this symphony had in abundance.’
Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 27 April 2010
‘…Matthews has emerged as a leading 21st-Century exponent of the form’
‘... artfully and beautifully composed... there is a splendid cadenza for timpani which is the grand climax of the work, and also the signal for a slow, shadowy Tenebroso section which moves out of darkness into the boisterous energy of the coda.’
The Times (Hilary Finch)
The 21-minute symphony was presented to audiences on Saturday 24 April, at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. The world premiere did lack one particular audience member – the composer himself, who was stranded in Australia due to the volcanic ash transport crisis, which disrupted so many events early in 2010.