At last a woman composer. For some years I only knew of Ruth Gipps thanks to Malcolm Arnold's brilliant "Variations on a Theme of Ruth Gipps." Eventually I acquired a CD of the second symphony. In 11 short sections, this work, from 1945, is fairly obviously British but not simply a bland offshoot of the "pastoral" school. It feels like extended variations which resolve them themselves into a march which is sometimes dramatic, sometimes ghostly. This may be the best symphony I have heard by an English woman (though I can't immediately think of any more I have heard). Apparently there are another four symphonies by Gipps; I won't hold my breath waiting to hear them all. The video is not the symphony. I as happy to find anything at all online by Ruth Gipps
Incidentally after the symphony finished iplayer changed to a work by Kaija Saariaho. Interesting to hear something again by a woman composer and from a totally different aesthetic to the anti-modernist Gipps. I am glad the world has room for both of them.
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