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\u201cWhat an astonishing year for British symphonies on disc\u2026\u00a0Philip Sawyers<\/a>\u2018s classically structured Third, however, out-compels its rivals in sweep, scope and and the ESO\u2019s gripping performance\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Huge congratulations also to John Pickard,\u00a0David Hackbridge Johnson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Steve Elcock<\/a>. This is a golden age for symphonic music and we\u2019re proud to play our part in its revival. Next up in our 21st Century Symphony Series is\u00a0David Matthews (composer)<\/a>\u2018s 9th Symphony, which we premiere in\u00a0St George\u2019s Church, Brandon Hill<\/a>\u00a0on the 9th of May and also record for\u00a0Nimbus Records<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Critics-Choice-Gramophone-Magazine-Guy-Rickards-2017.png\")
Congrats to\u00a0April Fredrick, soprano<\/a>, and producer Simon Fox-Gal, but especially to Philip. We\u2019re so proud of our affiliation with him as our John McCabe Composer-in-Association, a collaboration which has yielded the three works on this disc, his wonderful new Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Timpani, which we premiered in October with\u00a0Simon Desbruslais<\/a>, his Elegiac Fantasy in Memory of John Mccabe for Trumpet and Strings, his Violin Concerto which we premiere with\u00a0Alexander Sitkovetsky<\/a>\u00a0in February and his new tone poem inspired by paintings of Samuel Palmer, Valley of Vision, which we premiere in March. Philip also wrote a wonderful student work, A Colwall Overture, which our\u00a0ESO Youth<\/a>\u00a0Orchestras have performed several times this year.<\/p>\n