The choral theme follows. In fact the symphony is being unravelled, rolled backwards in some senses. Although some buildings are reversed out of the rubble, and much of the fabric returns, the abstract of the symphony tends to no such neatness. The whole possibility of repeat destruction is never wholly absent. After a sostenuto section again quoting Tristan , on low wind, quite softly, the Con molta affermazione al fine closes all in the final re-stated chorale theme.
Timpani underpin in a miming of a funeral snare-drum approach, which becomes affirmatory.
It is an extraordinary hard-won victory. A gnarled masterwork. Paul Conway contributed excellent notes before the analysis by Francis Routh, and a list of subscribers to this BBC Maida Vale recording is provided. Space perhaps didn't allow any other mention of Whettam, though this would surely have been welcome. The analysis was long and masterly, and the preceding notes focused on the work in question.