The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Woods have released premiere recordings of John McCabe's Symphony No 3 (1978) and his cello concerto Songline (2007), alongside his Symphony No 2 (1971). McCabe, who died in 2015, was a pianist and composer whose own works have long had gaps in their recorded legacy.
Edgy and lucid compositions
The Symphony No 2 is tense and edgy, musing on the cyclical nature of violence; the cello concerto, its title inspired by ancient Aboriginal pathways, is restless in a different, searching way, which soloist Raphael Wallfisch captures eloquently. What is striking and gratifying about both is the lucidity of McCabe’s music, its textures remaining clearly defined through writing of enormous colour and scope.
A lusher soundworld
The Symphony No 3, Hommages, inhabits a lusher soundworld, densely weaving in nods to Haydn and Nielsen while also looking in other directions – one passage with muted strings and celeste could almost be Shostakovich reimagined by the Strauss of Der Rosenkavalier. Vividly energised and expressive throughout, the performances do all three works justice.
