Wordsworth: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3

“Brooding intensity … impressive and moving. Nicholas Braithwaite and the London Philharmonic are excellent advocates for this splendid music. There are rewards here for the unprejudiced, not least the superb recording quality.” – GRAMOPHONE William Wordsworth (1908-1988) was a conservative British composer, not to be confused with the more famous poet of the same name. The progressivists of thirty-five years ago wanted none of these traditionally based symphonies, which in their view were occupying program time that should have been given to the rising generation. Forty-years later, it is difficult to imagine how this music aroused such petulant hostility.