IDAGIO | Sawyers: Symphony No. 3 - Songs of Loss and Regret

Featuring

Kenneth Woods
April Fredrick
English Symphony Orchestra
Philip Sawyers

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Composition History

The 'Songs of Loss and Regret' were commissioned by Adrian Farmer to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1.

Composer Biography

Philip Sawyers, the composer, was a violinist in the Royal Opera House Orchestra from 1973 to 1997 before becoming a freelance composer, violinist, teacher, and examiner.

Compositional Technique

Sawyers' Third Symphony employs a striking mixture of rigor and flexibility, using musical materials from diatonic and modal harmonies to twelve-tone themes.

Performer Biography

Kenneth Woods, the conductor, is also a cellist, composer, and author, and has worked with numerous orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Recording & Production

This album is part of the '21st Century Symphony Project,' a multi-year effort to commission, premiere, and record nine new symphonies by diverse living composers.

Compositional Technique

Philip Sawyers' music on this album spans a wide range of harmonic intensity, from direct tonal language in the Fanfare to twelve-tone techniques in the Third Symphony.