Composer of the Week: Robert Simpson

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Robert Simpson (1921-97): Words and Music

Words and Music

Robert Simpson (1921-97)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Robert Simpson (1921-97), Words and Music

Donald Macleod discovers what Robert Simpson’s writings reveal about his musical passions.

Donald Macleod explores Robert Simpson’s beginnings as a BBC producer and his writings on music, roles in which he championed composers whose music he felt was being neglected.

Robert Simpson - once described as "Britain's most important composer since Vaughan Williams", and "one of the century's most powerful and original symphonists" - was a man of integrity, a champion of lesser-known composers, and a man who lived his own life by strict principles: pacifism, socialism and what he called "anti-pessimism". Over the course of this week, in Simpson's centenary year, Donald Macleod looks back at the life and work of Robert Simpson - from his childhood in the Salvation Army, to his experiences as a conscientious objector during the Second World War.  He explores Simpson's writings on music and on life, and his time working at the BBC, before his break from the corporation and from this country. Along the way, we'll hear from Simpson's considerable body of work, which included no fewer than 11 Symphonies and 15 String Quartets.

In Wednesday’s episode, Donald explores Robert Simpson’s beginnings as a BBC producer and his writings on music, both roles, which Simpson used to champion composers whose music he felt was being neglected, notably Nielsen, Bruckner and Havergal Brian. We also find Simpson moving house to one where he can indulge one of his extra-musical passions – astronomy.


Allegro Deciso for String Orchestra
Orchestra of St. Paul’s
Ben Palmer (conductor)


The Four Temperaments - I. Scherzo (Sanguine); II. Intermezzo Allegro (Phlegmatic)
Desford Colliery Caterpillar Band
James Watson (conductor)


Symphony no. 3 – II. Adagio – Andante – Allegretto
London Symphony Orchestra
Jascha Horenstein (conductor)


String Quartet no. 6 – I. Adagio
The Delme String Quintet 

Producer: Sam Phillips

Composer of the Week: Robert Simpson (1921-97)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

In Simpson's centenary year, Donald Macleod looks back at the composer's life and work.

In Simpson's centenary year, Donald Macleod looks back at the composer's life and considerable body of work, which included no fewer than 11 symphonies and 15 string quartets.

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