Search - Rawsthorne, Pritchard, Braithwaite :: Symphonies 1 2 & 3

Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971) wrote a kind of music that, while avoiding more overt elements of romanticism, also seems to skirt the more common 20th-century fads of serialism and twelve-tone row combinations. If he has a soul-mate among his contemporaries, it's probably William Alwyn. The three symphonies on this recording are reissues of works that appeared in the sixties and seventies on Lyrita. If anything, there is always a rapt seriousness about Rawsthorne's music--melodies seem half resolved, harmonics strained. But overall, these three works show a master craftsman at work. His best is probably the Third. --Paul Cook