Sir Granville Bantock ~ Hebridean Symphony ~ Complete

Bantock’s Hebridean Symphony was an undertaking of love; love for his native Scotland, his father a true Scot, love for the music of Scotland, and love for the beauty of the land, especially, and obviously, the inner and outer islands of the Hebrides. Per Keith Anderson, who wrote the liner notes for the album from which this performance was taken, the Symphony is, “A work of brooding mystery and impetuous drama.“ I certainly agree. Anderson also writes that Bantock had a, “romantic preoccupation with the Hebrides and other aspects of Celctic culture.“ Anderson calls this a, “work of some power... that is ambitious, dramatic, occasionally grandiose, suggesting in a demanding score... something of his own conception of a Celctic world with which he had renewed acquantance by a walking tour of the Highlands as a necessary preparation for the Symphony.“ Anderson’s summation is excellent as he closes writing, “The music grows in intensity from the mists of the opening to an impressive storm, war, a love-lament