4 by Robert Simpson was written between 1970 and 1972 and commissioned by The Hallé who gave the premiere, conducted by James Loughran, at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 6 April 1973.
The overall tonality is E flat, and the work contains many musical references to Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn.
The four movements are: In this work Simpson began to make use of a characteristic harmonic device that resounds through his later music: he sometimes places chords that are identical in structure a fifth apart, usually in widely spaced registers, so that the higher chord sounds like harmonics of the lower one.
The last movement continues to develop material from the first and is one of the most frankly optimistic closes to any symphony by the composer.
[6] The 2001 performance was broadcast in 2007 as part of a complete Simpson Symphony cycle over BBC Radio 3.