Symphony No. 7 / Vespers

Unlike many contemporary composers, David Matthews has been much concerned with working in the great, inherited forms of the past - symphony, string quartet, oratorio - and finding new ways of renewing them. In a similar spirit, he has never shied away from tonality, from a musical language that is clear and direct, and from a joyous spirit of dance; "If only music could dance once again!" he reflected upon listening to Monteverdi's Vespers. This is the work that inspired his own Vespers, a grand oratorio masterfully combining a sense of solemnity and exhilaration, and which makes an important addition to the great tradition of amateur choral music. The same feeling of boisterous energy is felt in Matthews' seventh, and most recent, symphony. Once again, Matthews is unafraid of connections with great composers of the past and the model of Sibelius's Seventh Symphony - a one-movement work that subtly transitions from slow to fast and back again - provides a template from which Matthews creates a piece of exquisitely scored beauty and richness.