Composers: Tippett
Compositions: Symphonies Nos 3 and 4, Symphony in B Flat
Performers: BBC Scottish SO/Martyn Brabbins
Catalogue Number: HYPERION CDA68231/2

This release from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra concludes Martyn Brabbins’ survey of Michael Tippett’s symphonies, more ‘complete’ than those of Colin Davis and Richard Hickox because it includes the first recording of a Symphony in B Flat, written in 1932-38 and subsequently suppressed by the composer.

Tippett wrote four numbered symphonies. The First and Second are among the greatest 20th-century works in the genre, but while Nos 3 and 4 are examples of his mature art, both are problematic. The...