Composer Of The Week

Robert Simpson - once described as "Britain's most important composer since Vaughan Williams", and "one of the century's most powerful and original symphonists" - was a man of integrity, a champion of lesser-known composers, and a man who lived his own life by strict principles: pacifism, socialism and what he called "anti-pessimism". This week, in Simpson's centenary year, Donald Macleod looks back at the life and work of Robert Simpson - from his childhood in the Salvation Army, to his experiences as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He explores Simpson's writings on music and on life, and his time working at the BBC, before his break from the Corporation and from this country. Along the way we'll hear from Simpson's considerable body of work, which included no fewer than 11 Symphonies and 15 String Quartets.Music Featured:Symphony No 4 (II. Presto) In Media Morte in Vita Sumus Energy (IV. Allegro molto; V. Presto vivo) Symphony No 6 (excerpt) Canzona for Brass Symphony No 1 (excerpt) S