I have the disc with the symphonic poems, but I remember finding them rather thematically unmemorable. But this fine recommendation makes me feel like giving them another try. I might well like them better second time around - that often happens.
Yes, they are well worth a second visit, and do also try the second Hyperion disc with the
Creation Symphony! If you'll pardon the pun, I think that where Wallace really scores most is in his deft and often brilliant orchestration, especially
Villon.
In
William Wallace AD 1305-1905 he cunningly weaves in fragments of the tune (immortalised by the words of Robert Burns)
Scots! wha hae wi' Wallace bled. Alexander Mackenzie used the same tune more literally in his attractive Scottish Rhapsody No.2,
Burns, Op.24 (1880)...
:)
As did Bruch in the finale of his Scottish Fantasy (although with the chorus and verse reversed, as it were), and Berlioz in his Rob Roy Overture.
