After reading Robert Clements and Thanh-Tam Le writing about Searle's
symphonies, I'm going to try him yet again, with their comments especially
in mind.  I'm trying to reconcile Robert's concept of Searle's sound with
Rawsthorne, Arnold and Frankel.  What I know of him is much more hard-edged
than they are but not as coruscating as Robert's other suggestion,
Pettersson, can be (I'm thinking of the 10th).  However, I haven't heard
any Searle that sounds like the sublime closing pages of Pettersson's 7th,
which Mark Shanks described so accurately in a recent post.  Robert
mentioned that Rawsthorne, Arnold, Frankel and Searle all wrote film
scores.  Perhaps also relevant is their contemporary William Alwyn who,
like Searle, wrote five symphonies, but far more film music.

Richard Pennycuick
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