The National Symphony Orchestra have been releasing recordings of George Walker’s five sinfonias as digital singles (I reviewed Nos 1 and 4 in January). Happily, they’ve now been collected on a single disc (Albany Records’ extensive and invaluable survey of the composer’s orchestral music under Ian Hobson’s direction spreads the sinfonias over multiple discs).

What I find most impressive about these live performances from Washington DC’s Kennedy Center is their consistency. In a Gramophone podcast interview (December 5, 2022), Noseda described these sinfonias as being unusually compact, as if 15 minutes of music were compressed into 10. The resulting intensity is palpable here in every bar. This is not to say that the moments of lyrical repose aren’t given their due, however, and in fact the sense of heightened contrast means these tender oases are especially effective and affecting. Listen starting at 2'00" in the first movement of Sinfonia No 2 (1990), for example, where cragginess gives way to unexpected consonance and aching melody before returning to the unsettled emotions of the opening.

In general, though, I hear a preponderance of anger or defiance in these scores (these are my reactions, of course, and you may interpret the music differently). No 3 (2002) is especially powerful in this regard; its outsize gestures and stinging harmonies give the work a monumental quality despite its concision. And No 5, Visions (2016) – written as a protest against violence following the horrific 2015 shooting by a white supremacist at the Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina – seems cut from similar cloth. Noseda wisely opts for the version of the latter with multiple spoken voice parts, unlike Welser-Möst, who uses a single speaker in his recent recording on the Cleveland Orchestra’s in-house label (also 1/23), although the voices here sound somewhat disembodied and are generally less expressive than on the recording of the 2019 world premiere on the Seattle Symphony’s label (download only). Don’t let this minor criticism dissuade you, however, for Noseda and the NSO’s account of the Fifth is still potent, and aside from the voices, the recorded sound overall packs an appropriate wallop. Urgently recommended.