Brian's cogency can often be elusive for both performers and listeners.
Which #3 have you been listening to? I don't know the Marco Polo.  Right
now I am listening to (and maybe I should bite my tongue here) the Aries
LP version, credited to "The Lisbon Conservatory Orchestra" with "Peter
Michaels" conducting.  Aries credits are often bogus, and I'm not sure
who's actually playing.  They seem to have the work's progress firmly in
hand, and they always seem to know where they're going, as strange a path
as it may be.

It's hard to pick up any Brian symphony and not find prominent xylophone
and glockenspiel lines that are indispensible to the work's progress.  The
xylophone cadenza in the scherzo of the Gothic symphony is breathtaking.
I would also recommend a gander at #12 (again in the Aries series).
The only legitimate Brian symphony recordings with which I am conversant
are those conducted by Fredman (#6 and #16--breathtaking--originally on
Lyrita), and those featuring a Scottish youth orchestra (#10 and #21--not
so convincing--Unicorn).  I am not conversant at all with the Marco Polo
series, and I've heard mixed reviews of them.  All in all, Brian is a
highly original and individual composer, worthy of more attention than
he has gotten.

Aaron J. Rabushka
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