So - imagine you have won the lottery and have lots of cash in hand. You can go to Chandos and order up one complete symphony cycle. They have Martyn Brabbins and the BBCSSO lined up and ready to go. Who will you pick? Piston, Diamond and Holbrooke have all been mentioned, but you have to settle on one. I'm sure there are other names worthy of consideration - what about Butterworth, for instance?
Martyn Brabbins is a specialist in British music so it should probably be a British composer For me it would be a toss-up between Peter Racine Fricker, Iain Hamilton and William Wordsworth. Hamilton was Scottish, Wordsworth lived for most of his adult life in Scotland. Two of Wordsworth's eight symphonies exist on cd in relatively modern recordings, two more in transfers from radio broadcasts, one (the unperformed 6th) requires soloists and chorus. So -with some considerable regrets regarding the other two- I would opt for Hamilton (none of whose 4 is on cd).
