Havergal Brian customarily wrote for very large orchestras. Although he lived to the age of 96 he never heard much of his own music, including this present symphony, for the convincing reason that very little was performed during his lifetime. That in itself is of course no criticism of the quality of the music, which is independent of any performance, but one wishes he could have lived long enough to have experienced the fulfilment of having heard this symphony's first performance, a broadcast one, in 1974.
Part of the delay was due to the great length of the symphony, just over an hour; but perhaps principally to the great orchestral demands made: an absolute minimum of 70 or 80 players, plus two pianists of concert solo standard. (The pianists survived from an earlier intention that the work should be a piano concerto, a reversal of similar problems Brahms had when writing his D minor Piano Concerto.) Do great demands make great music? Well, no, they do not, or not necessarily nor of course do they necessarily make overblown music. Here my own view is that on this occasion they do help, unhappily, to make the rather dull music sound overblown, or do so too often. I did wish, when listening, that my spirits would rise as the volume level of the massive sounds did, but I must in honesty report that they did not, however much I might wish that they would. To the scherzo I did indeed respond, thinking that this was lively, jolly music. But as the finale wound its way towards ''exploding in a crushing affirmation of power'' my heart, resisting explosion, sank steadily. The next man's reaction to the music may well be precisely opposite, and indeed I hope it is: but do be warned. The performers are certainly in no way at fault, bringing great skill to bear on the solution of all the problems offered them; and the authoritative notes on the music by David Brown, Secretary of the Havergal Brian Society, convey both information and enthusiasm. The recorded quality, too, is good. Once or twice balance faltered, as it pretty well must with these forces (including an off-stage trumpet and horn), but not during the body of the work.
The notes very usefully identify 21 reference points where successive tracks begin; the recorded music is of course totally continuous (other than between movements). Finally I should make clear that the Malcolm MacDonald to whom David Brown offers gratitude for his help in the undertaking is not myself, but my namesake who is a great authority on Brian, as on much else, and to whom I wish I could have passed this record on to review!'