One thing leads to another. I noticed an upcoming performance of Confluence led by a conductor who opens lots of repertoire doors (this Saturday evening, April 4, at Eden Court, Inverness). Confluence is by William Wordsworth (1908-88), his Opus 100, and I was curious to hear it, and indeed other works by Wordsworth, the Scottish Highlands home to this “great-great-grandson of the poet’s brother Christopher”. It may be that I have heard nothing from this composer’s catalogue, so Volume Four (released at the beginning of 2022, all first recordings) of Toccata Classics’ Wordsworth survey looked to be an ideal introduction, not only Confluence, but a Symphony and a couple of attractively-titled scores that, as ordered on the disc, go back and forth in terms of chronology, ending with Confluence.

First, A Spring Festival Overture (Opus 90; 1970), a dreamy opening, an oboe piping a livelier countenance, a continuous melody unfolds in the violins, and with it a shadow of Vaughan Williams is present, sounds interweave, and the music builds to a peremptory pay-off.

The twenty-five-minute Symphony No.7, entitled ‘Cosmos’ (Opus 107; 1980), is a slow-burn continuous piece, somewhat otherworldly, suggestive of floating away from Planet Earth, often delicately coloured (harp, celesta, triangle, underpinning expressive woodwind solos), quite scenic if not developing and therefore losing initial attractiveness.

Jubilation: A Festivity for Orchestra (Opus 78; 1965) is disappointing, frankly amateurish in ideas, scoring and design.

What of Confluence: Symphonic Variations (1976), written for the opening of the afore-mentioned Eden Court, where it imminently returns? Well, it has its moments (out of fifteen of them) but it’s rather mundane, if with a rather nice violin solo, and as decently as the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra plays, I did wonder if John Gibbons could have taken an andante approach rather than an adagio one, for the whole comes across as effortful.

That said, curiosity is satisfied. Toccata Classics TOCC 0618, well-recorded/informative documentation.