I was lucky enough to be invited to the recording sessions for the CD.
Vernon Handley was due to conduct the Nielsen Variations, but could not
make it due to last minute health problems.  Matthew Taylor stepped in
at the last minute to conduct them - he was always scheduled to conduct
the 11th, since Simpson had written it for him.

I knew of the 11th Symphony before the recording, having heard the
Malvern Festival Premiere (with the same forces, the City of London
Sinfonia and Matthew Taylor conducting), and it's one of my favorite
Simpson Symphonies, - there is an amazing cumulative force that develops
in the 2nd (and last) movement.  Something like watching one of those
elegant express trains from the 20s get up a head of steam (e.g.
http://www.train-sim.com/review/record/coronation3.jpg).  The real
suprise was the Nielsen Variations which blew me away.  You can think
of it as a Symphony in that the variations form a coherent whole.

I wrote up the session for the Simpson Society, and can post some of
that here if if anyone is interested.

Andy Jackson