Huw Watkins and the Hallé’s latest album is many things. It represents a carefully nurtured artistic relationship of a kind that is all too rare these days. It is a demonstration that a handful of good things really did come out of the dark days of the global pandemic. Most of all, though, it’s proof positive that classical music can be complex yet approachable while also being spiritually uplifting.
Watkins, born in Cardiff in 1976, studied at King’s College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music with Robin Holloway, Alexander Goehr and Julian Anderson. While highly regarded as a composer, he’s also an in-demand pianist and chamber music partner. His admired orchestral works include numerous pieces for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales where he served as composer-in-association.
The works presented here were all commissioned and premiered by the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder between 2020 and 2025. Symphony No. 2 was a natural successor to Watkins’ First Symphony, premiered by the Hallé in 2017. It was composed during the COVID lockdowns, which Watkins says only made him more determined that it should end on a positive note.
The substantial first movement opens with flickering, upward motives, like dust spiralling in a shaft of sunlight. The orchestra bestirs itself in music that is energetic and bold. Brass fanfares hocket between trumpets and horns with echoes here and there of Britten, while soft strings hint at a post-Vaughan Williams sound world. There’s structure too, with a strong sense of modified sonata form. The outer sections of the nocturnal slow movement exude a consoling balm with now and again a suggestion of Copland or Bernstein (though nothing Watkins writes is ever derivative). The finale is lively and bright, from gentle, questioning beginning to exuberant, horn-whooping conclusion.
Fanfare for the Hallé was commissioned to celebrate the return of the orchestra to the concert platform following the first lockdown. Scored for 11 brass instruments, it builds to a confident and defiant climax clearly intended to reflect the national mood.
Elder premiered Watkins’ Concerto for Orchestra in his first concert as Conductor Emeritus (after almost a quarter of a century as Music Director he stepped down in 2024). Rather than adopt a movement-by-movement focus on sections of the orchestra, like, say, the Bartók, the music flits around the ensemble in what feels like a constantly evolving showcase. Again, the work exudes a warmth and positivity while Watkins’ music is notable for its intense orchestral colours, rhythmic vitality and subtle use of counterpoint.
The first movement is a restless shapeshifter, though just about keeping its powder dry. The second movement, again spun out over a long arc, is possessed at first of a calm beauty. Showcasing the Hallé strings and harp, the nocturnal mood finally gives way as woodwinds leap in with a vivacity reminiscent of Tippett. The central section features full-fat brass before the music pulls in its horns to return to a world of moonlight and stars. The wheeling finale, with here and there a hint of a reel, returns us to a world of optimism and delight.
The Hallé engineers have done a terrific job. The Fanfare and Second Symphony were recorded, socially distanced, in 2020 and 2021 with the Concerto for Orchestra recorded live and in rehearsal last year. All come up in sparkling sound with both depth and detail. Whether you are familiar with his music or not, Watkins demands to be heard.
Composer: Huw Watkins
Works: Symphony No. 2, Concerto for Orchestra, Fanfare
Performer: Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
Label: Hallé
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