Rory Macdonald & RSNO - Thomas Wilson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - Presto Classical

There are shades of Berg in the lyrical string passages, hints of Bartók in the percussion writing, and even occasional whispers of Ives and (in the Fourth Symphony) Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety, but this Scottish composer emerges as a distinct and original voice in these three works commissioned for Scottish ceremonial occasions and anniversaries: the orchestration in the Fourth Symphony, a musical autobiography of Paisley, is especially arresting.