The Limelight Recording of the Month for May features new orchestral works by Huw Watkins, one of the UK’s most gifted composers. All three works – his Second Symphony, a Concerto for Orchestra, and a Fanfare – were written over the last five years for Manchester’s venerable Hallé orchestra and its then Music Director Mark Elder.

Clive Paget caught up with Watkins to talk about the symphony’s place in the 21st century, the challenges of writing one, and how lockdowns made him more determined than ever to imbue his music with a sense of positivity.

What does the idea of a symphony mean to you, and does it have purpose in the 21st century?

I think it’s as valid as it has been any time in the last several hundred years. After Beethoven, everybody writing symphonies was aware of the history. For Brahms it was a huge thing. It took him until he was 40 to write a symphony because of this weight of tradition. The line continues on through Shostakovich. For me, Tippett is a hugely important 20th-century symphonist. It’s a nice way of thinking of yourself as being part of a tradition that’s bigger than any single composer. I...