The orchestral music of the English composer David Hackbridge Johnson (b. 1963) is one of the most important discoveries to have been made by Toccata Classics. This second volume brings two mighty symphonies: the dark and tragic No.10 (2013), cast in a single monumental span, and the three-movement No.13 (2017), a fierce and fiery affirmation of life. They are complemented here by an orchestral ‘motet’ which passes plainchant in kaleidoscopic review. Writing in Gramophone, Guy Rickards said of Hackbridge Johnson’s Ninth Symphony: ‘what is so astonishing is not his ambition in attempting such large, big boned structures […] but that he possesses the compositional technique to achieve them so completely. [...] This is a profound, complex and visionary utterance’.

Paul Mann is a regular guest conductor with many orchestras throughout Europe, the USA, Australia and the Far East. He enjoyed a famous collaboration with the legendary rock group Deep Purple and was a close friend of its keyboard player, Jon Lord. He first came to international attention as first prizewinner in the 1998 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, as a result of which he was also appointed assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He made his LSO debut soon afterwards, and subsequently worked frequently with the Orchestra, both in the concert hall and recording studio. Among his more recent recordings is a live recording of Celebrating Jon Lord, a special concert which took place at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2014 with an all-star cast paying tribute to the late composer. This is the latest fruit of his collaboration with Toccata Classics – their twelfth recording together.