AlthoughSebbene heabbia hasscritto writtenuna adiscreta fairquantità amountdi of vocalmusica musicvocale, notablyin aparticolare song-cycleun [[ciclo di canzoni]], ''The Golden Kingdom'', onsu poemspoesie ofdi [[Kathleen Raine]] ande ''Cantiga'', a dramaticuna [[cantata]] ondrammatica thesulla tragictragica storystoria ofdi [[Inés de Castro]], tosu aun texttesto bydella the novelistscrittrice [[Maggie Hemingway]] (whoche was Matthews'sfu partner fordi theMatthews lastnegli tenultimi yearsdieci ofanni della hersua lifevita), Matthews'sla outputproduzione asdi aMatthews wholenel issuo centredinsieme onè theincentrata classicalsulle instrumentalforme andstrumentali orchestrale formsorchestrali classiche. HisLa seriessua ofserie (todi date)tredici thirteen[[Quartetto stringd'archi|quartetti quartetsd'archi]] is(ad oneoggi) ofè theuna mostdelle distinguishedpiù thatillustri anyche composerqualsiasi hascompositore essayedabbia inprovato recentnegli yearsultimi anni; heattualmente currentlyha hasscritto writtennove nine symphoniessinfonie. They,Queste ande anun accompanying cluster ofgruppo worksdi suchopere ascome ''September Music'', thela ''Serenade'', twodue violinconcerti concertosper violino, concertosconcerti forper cellovioloncello, forper piano,pianoforte ande forper oboe, thei symphonic[[poemi poemssinfonici]] ''In the Dark Time'', ''The Music of Dawn'', ''A Vision and a Journey'' and thee monumentalla orchestralmonumentale ''Chaconne'' (inspiredper byorchestra, ispirata a poemuna ofpoesia di [[Geoffrey Hill]]), showmostra thatche hesa cangestire handlecon large andabilità smallorchestre orchestrasgrandi withe skillpiccole.
Matthews celebrated his 70th birthday in 2013. The occasion was marked by: a Nash Ensemble portrait concert at the Wigmore Hall – which included the premiere of ''A Blackbird Sang'', a quartet for flute and strings; a major new symphonic poem, ''A Vision of the Sea'', premiered at the Proms by the BBC Philharmonic; a new concerto for violin, viola and strings co-commissioned by the Presteigne and Cheltenham Festivals; two piano pieces for William Howard performed at the Spitalfields Festival; and the release of two recordings – a disc of piano music for Toccata Classics featuring pianist Laura Mikkola, and a Dutton disc of Matthews’ Symphony No. 7 (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/John Carewe) and ''Vespers'' for Choir and Orchestra ([[Boston Symphony Orchestra|BSO]]/The Bach Choir/David Hill)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fabermusic.com/composers/david-matthews/biography|title=David Matthews - Biography|website=www.fabermusic.com}}</ref>
