William Alwyn

[Irons]

Interesting Lol - I see that WA's great grandson Joe Alwyn (actor and musician) is in a relationship with the American singer Taylor Swift. I wonder what his great grandfather would have thought of her music? 

That Somm CD looks interesting.

Of course I have no interest in celebrity gossip you understand! 

I too have no interest in celebrity gossip, Jeffrey. Did you know that Alan Rawsthorne married the widow of Constant Lambert who was the stepmother of Kit Lambert, famously manager of The Who, who died after being beat up and falling down a flight of stairs in a gay London night club? Allegedly.

[vandermolen]

I too have no interest in celebrity gossip, Jeffrey. Did you know that Alan Rawsthorne married the widow of Constant Lambert who was the stepmother of Kit Lambert, famously manager of The Who, who died after being beat up and falling down a flight of stairs in a gay London night club? Allegedly.

Oddly enough, I did know that Lol. Remember that I was born and brought up in Earl's Court!

And (OT) here is my favourite photo of Constant Lambert - I wonder if you can guess why? 

[Irons]

Oddly enough, I did know that Lol. Remember that I was born and brought up in Earl's Court!

And (OT) here is my favourite photo of Constant Lambert - I wonder if you can guess why? 

Lambert is looking at the cat lovingly and the cat could not care less! Dogs are below us and cats are above us.

[aligreto]

Alwyn: Conducted by the composer





I am finishing off this CD with Sinfonietta for Strings

This is a first listen to this work for me [as with everything else on this CD]. I like it. Obviously because of the scale of the work Alwyn allows himself time and space to develop his ideas which is where the meat of a composer's music can lie. The final movement is particularly interesting and compelling; it is terrific writing by any standard. Even with limited instrumentation the scoring is really interesting. The music has a voice and it is well presented. I am looking forward to hearing his symphonies as a result.

[vandermolen]

Lambert is looking at the cat lovingly and the cat could not care less! Dogs are below us and cats are above us.

Haha - quite right Lol '...and only pigs look us in the face' (Churchill).

[vandermolen]

Alwyn: Conducted by the composer





I am finishing off this CD with Sinfonietta for Strings

This is a first listen to this work for me [as with everything else on this CD]. I like it. Obviously because of the scale of the work Alwyn allows himself time and space to develop his ideas which is where the meat of a composer's music can lie. The final movement is particularly interesting and compelling; it is terrific writing by any standard. Even with limited instrumentation the scoring is really interesting. The music has a voice and it is well presented. I am looking forward to hearing his symphonies as a result.

I think I'm right Fergus in saying that the Sinfonietta was written for the Music Dept at Lancaster University, where I studied (not in the Music Dept) from 1973-1976.

[Irons]

Alwyn: Conducted by the composer





I am finishing off this CD with Sinfonietta for Strings

This is a first listen to this work for me [as with everything else on this CD]. I like it. Obviously because of the scale of the work Alwyn allows himself time and space to develop his ideas which is where the meat of a composer's music can lie. The final movement is particularly interesting and compelling; it is terrific writing by any standard. Even with limited instrumentation the scoring is really interesting. The music has a voice and it is well presented. I am looking forward to hearing his symphonies as a result.

After your advocacy Fergus I will give the Sinfonietta a spin - for LP the work is coupled with the 2nd Symphony.

Jeffrey only just missed out as the Sinfonietta was completed in 1970 after a commission from the Music Department of Lancaster University.

If I may be so bold as recommend an Alwyn CD. On Chandos with Hickox and London Sinfonia, Three Concerti Grossi. I think you will enjoy it, I know I do! Picked it up cheaply too.

[aligreto]

I think I'm right Fergus in saying that the Sinfonietta was written for the Music Dept at Lancaster University, where I studied (not in the Music Dept) from 1973-1976.

Thank you for that information, Jeffrey. The above CD is a download so I do not have the booklet.

[aligreto]

After your advocacy Fergus I will give the Sinfonietta a spin - for LP the work is coupled with the 2nd Symphony.

Jeffrey only just missed out as the Sinfonietta was completed in 1970 after a commission from the Music Department of Lancaster University.

If I may be so bold as recommend an Alwyn CD. On Chandos with Hickox and London Sinfonia, Three Concerti Grossi. I think you will enjoy it, I know I do! Picked it up cheaply too.

I am sure that you will enjoy the Sinfonietta Lol.
Thank you for the recommendation of the Three Concerti Grossi. I have his symphonies lined up next. He is a composer that I had not heard of until very recently and I am becoming more impressed with his music the more that I hear it.

[SonicMan46]

BOY, I'm coming late to the show!    But I've been collecting Alwyn for years and now have about a dozen CDs - the first 4 up are shown below and now listening to the gorgeous Lyra Angelica to end my evening - will restart in the morning.  NOW, I know he is considered the Godfather of British Film composers and I have a number of those movies (e.g. Odd Man Out, Swiss Family Robinson, & In Search of the Castaways) - SO, maybe I should obtain some film CDs? Don't have any, but plenty of other recordings which I'll be posting soon.  Dave

     

[Brian]

Hello Dave! I really enjoyed that chamber music disc a while back, and of course Lyra Angelica too. I just bought a copy of Naxos "Piano Music Volume 1", with lots of romantic miniatures and a huge cycle of "fantasy waltzes." Unfortunately, the retailer was out of stock. But it should be along in a few weeks!

[amw]

I have both (?) volumes of the piano music (or at least volumes 1 and 2). Ashley Wass is definitely a pianist who deserves to be better known, and the music is pretty substantial, even given that most of it consists of miniatures and cycles of miniatures. I'd probably recommend them.

[Roasted Swan]

The Alwyn/Film Music series on Chandos is very fine - for me some of the best discs in that series. Famously Alwyn used the money he earned from writing film scores to self-fund the LPs he conducted of his own music on Lyrita.  Although the Chandos series of his orchestral works are very good indeed I must admit I usually turn to those Lyrita recordings first - stunning sound and thrilling music.  That said - the Naxos series of the Symphonies etc in Liverpool is very good too.  Alwyn is still shamefully under-represented in the concert hall.  In all my years of being a professional violinist I have never played a single orchestral piece by him in concert.  I've played some of his quartet and string orchestra music (because I could choose the music) but nothing else.  If you look at the Proms - 3 of his symphonies were played (once each) in the 1950's, one (No.5) in the 1980's and No.1 (for the 2nd time) in 2014.  No.2 has never been played.  The (gorgeous) violin concerto - never played.  Film music - once - THIS YEAR!! (early September).

[vandermolen]

BOY, I'm coming late to the show!    But I've been collecting Alwyn for years and now have about a dozen CDs - the first 4 up are shown below and now listening to the gorgeous Lyra Angelica to end my evening - will restart in the morning.  NOW, I know he is considered the Godfather of British Film composers and I have a number of those movies (e.g. Odd Man Out, Swiss Family Robinson, & In Search of the Castaways) - SO, maybe I should obtain some film CDs? Don't have any, but plenty of other recordings which I'll be posting soon.  Dave

     

What strikes me as odd Dave is the almost total neglect of Alwyn's Violin Concerto - one of his greatest works IMO.

[SonicMan46]

What strikes me as odd Dave is the almost total neglect of Alwyn's Violin Concerto - one of his greatest works IMO.

Well, just 4 so far of my dozen Alwyn CDs - more coming up later!  Dave

[Brian]

The violin concerto is utterly beautiful and one of the Alwyn pieces I listen to most. In fact, I'm revisiting it now. At 5:00 in the finale (Naxos version), there is a passage where the orchestration sounds a lot like part of Holst's "Planets."

However, I do understand its relative failure to catch on in the concert hall setting. The melodies are lyrical and emotionally affecting, but not terribly memorable, the first movement contains some rambling, and - worst of all, from the point of view of a concert organizer - the endings of all three movements are a tiny bit disappointing. The first movement ends with the violin "resolving" the drama, but the rest of the orchestra does not provide the expected chord to finish the resolution. The violin's also playing alone at the end of the slow movement, and the finale ends on a satisfying, upbeat fanfare with a weird long pause before it.

In other words...it's perfect for CDs. We can listen all we want at home and enjoy the beauty and pleasure it provides, without worrying about whether it would "work" in concert.

[vandermolen]

The violin concerto is utterly beautiful and one of the Alwyn pieces I listen to most. In fact, I'm revisiting it now. At 5:00 in the finale (Naxos version), there is a passage where the orchestration sounds a lot like part of Holst's "Planets."

However, I do understand its relative failure to catch on in the concert hall setting. The melodies are lyrical and emotionally affecting, but not terribly memorable, the first movement contains some rambling, and - worst of all, from the point of view of a concert organizer - the endings of all three movements are a tiny bit disappointing. The first movement ends with the violin "resolving" the drama, but the rest of the orchestra does not provide the expected chord to finish the resolution. The violin's also playing alone at the end of the slow movement, and the finale ends on a satisfying, upbeat fanfare with a weird long pause before it.

In other words...it's perfect for CDs. We can listen all we want at home and enjoy the beauty and pleasure it provides, without worrying about whether it would "work" in concert.

Most interesting analysis - thanks.

[Daverz]

I love the Violin Concerto, particularly the McAslan recording, though I should try the Mordkovitch again.   Paul A. Snook in Fanfare is rather harsh on the work:

As for the much earlier (1937-39) violin concerto, it was never performed with orchestra in the composer's lifetime, and, after struggling through its forty-minute length (the first movement alone almost half of this enormous span), this listener can readily understand why. The work is simply not as smooth and forceful as the even earlier piano concerto just issued also on Chandos. Focus and structure were often problems for the long-winded younger Alwyn, as this work illustrates vividly. Mordkovitch sounds vaguely tentative in what is in essence a modified sinfonia concertante, as the large orchestra wallows in an ocean of ideas—some of them quite striking—which soon begin to cancel each other out. If ever a piece needed rethinking and trimming, this is it, but nothing from the prodigious pen of Alwyn was ever without some interest. All lovers of modern British music will remain in Chandos's debt for bringing this rare work to the attention of a wider public.

[SonicMan46]

As stated before, I own about a dozen Alwyn CDs and listened to 4 yesterday; up for the morning are the 4 in the top row below - I likely will add Ashley Wass' V. 2 of piano music, unless there may be other recommendations?  The 3-disc Symphony Box for the afternoon.  From Jeffrey's & Brian's strong recommendations, I'd like to add the Violin Concerto, and there seems to be two contenders (bottom row, middle pics) - any thoughts would be appreciated, believe both have received good reviews.  Finally since he is kind of the 'Godfather' of English film music, I was thinking of the last pic w/ the 'Odd Man Out' although I own the Criterion BD of the film?  Thanks for any comments.  Dave

     

     

[Brian]

The recording I know well is McAslan's - can't comment on any others but it is very good (the soloist is spotlit a bit but she is also good).