Rory Macdonald & RSNO - Thomas Wilson: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 - BBC Music Magazine

Fifty-four minutes might seem rather short shrift for an album, but the Scottish composer Thomas Wilson, dubbed at his death in 2001 ‘a national treasure’, makes every second count. The two symphonies here, completing Linn’s recorded survey (missing only the suppressed No. 1), may have stylistic differences, but both are notably taut affairs, propelled by motivic cells more harmonic than melodic, nervously explored from every angle. 

The Second Symphony of 1965 is particularly tense, chewing over rhythms and intervallic relations in a manner both muscular and surly, with sustained notes dominating parts of its striking, shadow-strewn central adagio. 

Leaping over 30 years, we reach Wilson’s Fifth of 1998, comparatively mellow and reflective, and his last completed work. It’s as enjoyable as it is impressive; and Wilson’s orchestral palette continues to intrigue, right from the opening mix of ominous growling timpani and a sad, wriggling cor anglais.