Hyperion CDA66299 – Review by Karl W. Nehring
Not only is the Simpson 9th Symphony an amazing piece of music – gripping, powerful, and compelling – and not only is the sound quality simply splendid, as we have come to expect from the production team of Andrew Keener and Mike Hatch: this CD features an absolutely wonderful innovation – the composer himself speaking about the work and how he put it together. My goodness, this disc is a must-hear experience for every lover of orchestral music! If you enjoy Bruckner or Shostakovitch, you will likely enjoy the Simpson 9th, but you will never get a chance to hear Bruckner or Shostakovitch talk about one of their symphonies. Hyperion and Robert Simpson deserve our profound appreciation for making such a recording project available to us, and we can only hope that other recording companies – and other composers (John Adams, Henryk Gorecki – but please, please, not Phillip Glass!) might someday try something similar.
Karl W. Nehring
The $ensible Sound, issue 51