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Williamson - Orchestral Works Volume.2

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Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHAN10406

Barcode: 0095115140628

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 29th January 2007

Works

Williamson, Malcolm

Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell
Lento
Symphony no.1 'Elevamini'
Symphony no.5 'Aquero'

Artists

Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Rumon Gamba

Works

Williamson, Malcolm

Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell
Lento
Symphony no.1 'Elevamini'
Symphony no.5 'Aquero'

Artists

Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Rumon Gamba

About

Chandos is now engaged in an important recording project devoted to a comprehensive survey of the orchestral works of Malcolm Williamson, and this second release further helps to restore the reputation of the late Master of the Queen’s Music. Williamson had a gift for composing memorable tunes and readily adopted elements of popular style, as demonstrated by the works on this disc, several of which have the potential to become repertoire works.

Arriving in London in 1950, Williamson suddenly discovered a new world of music – the emerging serial avant garde and the music of Messiaen – of which he had previously been ignorant. He embraced these new styles; however, he did not forget his love of popular music and jazz, which ensured he encompassed popular elements, both rhythmic and melodic.

The two numbered symphonies both show the influence of Messiaen in the modal character of their material. The title Elevamini of his Symphony No.1 is a quotation from Psalm 24, and the symphony is a programmatic work, honouring the memory of his grandmother, that follows the progress of a soul, using a tone-row, and beginning with a beautiful mystical meditation of strings alone.

Symphony No.5, Aquerò, is a one-movement work, first performed in 1980 and receiving its first recording with this release. The composer wrote that the symphony ‘is a broadly developing drama of ideas’ and went on to point out various programmatic elements. Its title and the brief annotations that appear at intervals throughout the score make clear that this is in effect a symphonic poem on the life of Saint Bernadette.

Completing the disc are two shorter orchestral works, Lento for Strings – a touching elegiac tune for strings, written in 1985 and dedicated to the Australian comedian Paul McDermott - and Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell. Williamson had warm memories of Edith Sitwell and he needed little encouragement to reminisce about her at length. His first memorial work for her had been his Violin Concerto, and these two short pieces are based on a phrase from the slow movement of the concerto.

This second volume, of works spanning thirty years of compositional activity, demonstrates the eclectic quality of the music of Williamson, a composer who was able to absorb many influences without losing his own essential voice, and is an excellent follow-up to volume one.

Symphony No.5 – Aquerò is a world premiere recording and this is the only available recording of Symphony No.1 ‘Elevamini’ and Lento for Strings.