PETER MAXWELL DAVIES (b.1934): Symphony No. 1, Mavis in Las Vegas.

Description: The composer only wrote his first symphony at the age of 42, inspired by the sea and the landscape of his Orkney home and "Gramophone"'s review captures its essence: "the Symphony's sheer splendour of sound is gripping from beginning to end, and after its seascapes and cliffscapes, its surging and breaking waves, its palette of blues and silvers, white and deep green, its sense of powerful undercurrents as well as iridescent surface...". Its 55-minutes were uncoupled on its original release but here we also get the 13-minutes of exuberant and glitzy tribute to the notorious gambling and sin capital of America from 1997. BBC Philharmonic; Peter Maxwell Davies. Original 1995 and 1998 Collins Classics releases.