Special offer. Robert Simpson: Symphony Nos. 5 & 6
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Groves
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice 2021
The 1973 performance of the Fifth, with a young Andrew Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on top form, is a tour de force. Despite a few intrusive coughs, both the energy and the...
Special offer. Robert Simpson: Symphony Nos. 5 & 6
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Groves
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, July 2026, Critics' Choice 2021
The 1973 performance of the Fifth, with a young Andrew Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on top form, is a tour de force. Despite a few intrusive coughs, both the energy and the...
About
This release was made possible by a grant from the Robert Simpson Society on occasion of the 2021 centenary. Robert Simpson wrote his Fifth Symphony in 1972 in response to a commission by the London Symphony Orchestra. The first performance of the symphony took place on 3 May 1973 at the Royal Festival Hall, under the direction of Andrew Davis. Simpsons Sixth Symphony, of 1977, was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with funds provided by the Arts Council, it received its premiere performance on 8 April 1980 at the Royal Festival Hall with The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Groves.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
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Gramophone MagazineJuly 2026Critics' Choice 2021
June 2021
The 1973 performance of the Fifth, with a young Andrew Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on top form, is a tour de force. Despite a few intrusive coughs, both the energy and the concentration of the music shine out.
July/August 2021
...it is the Fifth Symphony recording that recommends this new release: the performance was clearly a major event, and enough of that frisson is captured here for us to understand what the excitement was all about.
June 2021
Simpson’s Fifth is a work full of sound and fury, but told by a seasoned symphonist and signifying a very great deal…The LSO’s premiere performance under Andrew Davis is a tour de force, swifter and more venomous than Vernon Handley’s fine studio account.
