Malcolm Williamson 'A Mischievous Muse' 1931-2003

[vandermolen]

On my long car journey to work I have been listening to the Lyrita CD below. I have always liked 'Elevamini' (Williamson's First Symphony) - but the great recent discovery for me is the 'Sinfonia Concertante' which started out as Williamson's Second Symphony. It has a hauntingly beautiful slow movement, which I keep playing on its own - although I like the work generally (it reminds me a bit of Bernstein's 'Age of Anxiety') - but do look out for the slow movement. As for Elevamini, I think that the Groves performance has a greater urgency than the (very good) Ruman Gamba recording on Chandos. I am enjoying re-discovering the music of Malcolm Williamson - an underrated figure in my view.

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[Dundonnell]

Another of Chandos's aborted Series

Can you have a Series of only 2 Volumes?

There are still four Williamson Symphonies waiting to be discovered on disc: Nos. 2(1968), 3 "The Icy Mirror"(1972), No.4(1977) and never performed and the huge No.6(1982) written for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. There is also, of course, the massive Mass of Christ the King(1978).

Apparently his music is never played in Australia...the usual fate of the emigre.....and I fear that the Chandos attempt was his final chance

[vandermolen]

Another of Chandos's aborted Series

Can you have a Series of only 2 Volumes?

There are still four Williamson Symphonies waiting to be discovered on disc: Nos. 2(1968), 3 "The Icy Mirror"(1972), No.4(1977) and never performed and the huge No.6(1982) written for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. There is also, of course, the massive Mass of Christ the King(1978).

Apparently his music is never played in Australia...the usual fate of the emigre.....and I fear that the Chandos attempt was his final chance

Thanks Colin     I know that I can invariably rely on you to respond! I have just ordered the newish biography of Williamson out the library (again!) I have increasing respect for him.

[vandermolen]

Recently I watched the animated film 'Watership Down' on DVD. A rather dark film which I like very much. Williamson wrote the music for the Prologue, but as with much else in his latter years he never completed the score (causing great trouble for the producer who had booked the orchestra to perform a non-existent score). At the last minute Angela Morley stepped in to complete a very fine and atmospheric score (which also includes Mike Batt's 'Bright Eyes' sung by Art Garfunkel). So, 'Watership Down' actually features the music of three composers. On my copy of the DVD the extras feature the producer talking about these issues. Still, I like Williamson's main theme very much.
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[mahler10th]

Recently I watched the animated film 'Watership Down' on DVD. A rather dark film which I like very much. Williamson wrote the music for the Prologue, but as with much else in his latter years he never completed the score (causing great trouble for the producer who had booked the oechestra to perform a non-existent score). At the last minute Angela Morley stepped in to complete a very fine and atmospheric score (which also includes Mike Batt's 'Bright Eyes' sung by Art Garfunkel). So, 'Watership Down' actually features the music of three composers. On my copy of the DVD the extras feature the producer talking about these issues. Still, I like Williamson's main theme very much.
[asin]B0007LPLJ2[/asin]

I love that movie too, and will have a wee look around for the Soundtrack.  The book is TOP reading, brilliantly crafted.  Bigwig is my Watership hero.   

[vandermolen]

I love that movie too, and will have a wee look around for the Soundtrack.  The book is TOP reading, brilliantly crafted.  Bigwig is my Watership hero.   

Hi John 

The soundtrack is now ridiculously expensive on Amazon.  I just bought the book for my wife to read (it will distract her from the growing number of CDs in the house  ) Yes, Bigwig is a great character, although I like Kehaar in the film and have rather a soft spot for 'The General' brilliantly played by Harry Andrews in the film.

[Christo]

Recently I watched the animated film 'Watership Down' on DVD. A rather dark film which I like very much. Williamson wrote the music for the Prologue, but as with much else in his latter years he never completed the score (causing great trouble for the producer who had booked the orchestra to perform a non-existent score). At the last minute Angela Morley stepped in to complete a very fine and atmospheric score (which also includes Mike Batt's 'Bright Eyes' sung by Art Garfunkel). So, 'Watership Down' actually features the music of three composers. On my copy of the DVD the extras feature the producer talking about these issues. Still, I like Williamson's main theme very much.

Never saw the film, but used to have an LP with the music in the early 1980s, probably at its release. So I clearly recall the music and only now realize that Williamson is also in it (had only Morley in mind). Great to be reminded of these 'fond memories'. 

[vandermolen]

Never saw the film, but used to have an LP with the music in the early 1980s, probably at its release. So I clearly recall the music and only now realize that Williamson is also in it (had only Morley in mind). Great to be reminded of these 'fond memories'. 

Angela Morley (AKA Wally Stott) wrote the music for 'Hancock's Half Hour' radio and tv comedy of the 1950s and early 60s. There is a nice CD of her film and tv music on Dutton including four items from Watership Down (but not the Williamson title music of course). That Watership Down soundtrack was a very fine, atmospheric and memorable LP/CD. Apparently after it bacame clear that MW had hardly written any music for the film Morley completed, what may well be her finest work in a period of two weeks! 

[lescamil]

Bumping this old thread. I recently got an LP with Williamson's Piano Concerto No. 2, Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell, and Double Piano Concerto. Wow, what a set of works by this varied composer. The piano concerto no. 2 is perhaps his best work in his light idiom and the other two show off his serious side quite effectively. The Concerto for Two Pianos is a work very rich with ideas. Reminds me of Messiaen would sound like if he were a British neoclassicist. I haven't been this excited digging up an old LP in a long time. I ripped it and have listened to it on the go for a few days and haven't gotten sick of it yet.

[vandermolen]

Time to put in a plug for Malcolm Williamson's Organ Cocerto. In my youth I saw it live at the 1977 London Proms with the 88 year old Sir Adrian Boult conducting and the composer playing the organ . Boult is the dedicatee and there is use made in the concerto of Boult's initials 'A,C,B'. It is a craggy, dissonant work with great moments of tonal lyricism, especially towards the end and in the eloquent slow movement. The critics at the time either found it too dissonant or insufficiently radical. I think that it is one of Williamson's finest works:
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[Scion7]

Blasting out this morning with this one.

WILLIAMSON-Menuhin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Boult
Adagio e sostenuto-Vivace-Adagio molto
1964

Malcolm Williamson's Violin Concerto was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin for the Bath Festival in 1964. Dedicated to the memory of Edith Sitwell, who died during the composition of the work, the concerto consists of two grieving slow encasing a central scherzo whose satirical bite suggests a portrait of the dedicatee. The concerto was first performed by Yehudi Menuhin and the Bath Festival Orchestra in the Assembly Rooms, Bath on 15th June 1965.
The opening movement, Adagio e sostenuto, begins with the imposing and tragic first subject (a descending scale over an undulating accompaniment). The solo violin rises out of the violin section to perform an extended solo passage. This is the concerto's sole cadenza and it leads directly to the second subject, an uneasy lament in 10/4 time. If the first subject is a public declaration of mourning, the second subject has the intimacy of private grieving. It is a haunting, nostalgic theme, slightly sentimental - like a Victorian ballad such as Edith Sitwell would have heard in her youth. The development section pits the sorrowing solo violin against the full-throated sobbing of the tutti orchestra whilst the recapitulation of the much transformed first subject features severe technical tests for the soloist with its double and treble stopping passages over harp and string accompaniment. The second subject returns largo tranquillo, transformed into a gentle requiem for a bygone era. It brings the movement to a hushed close with the musical argument unresolved.
The central Vivace is an acerbic scherzo - music of the night and second cousin to the central spectral Scherzo of Mahler's Seventh Symphony. Fleeting as a nightmare, its gawky, martial main theme is occasionally interrupted by a rich, soaring melody which again seems parodic in intent. A direct tribute to the irony and brilliance of Edith Sitwell's verse, the world of Façade is not far away (Walton himself is said to have admired this concerto). The Presto coda brings the movement to a spiky, spirited conclusion.
The Adagio molto Finale is a slow threnody, elegiac in character. A tender and poignant melody for solo violin ascends to celestial heights over a throbbing, kaleidoscopic orchestral accompaniment. Three tutti hammer blows of Fate divest the work of its remaining energy and the concerto ends in dignified resignation, accepting the loss it has previously railed against. As the soloist soars away, fading to a triple piano conclusion, the inevitability of the passing of life is memorably and unsentimentally caught in these final bars.  ~ MusicWeb

[vandermolen]

Blasting out this morning with this one.

WILLIAMSON-Menuhin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Boult
Adagio e sostenuto-Vivace-Adagio molto
1964

Malcolm Williamson's Violin Concerto was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin for the Bath Festival in 1964. Dedicated to the memory of Edith Sitwell, who died during the composition of the work, the concerto consists of two grieving slow encasing a central scherzo whose satirical bite suggests a portrait of the dedicatee. The concerto was first performed by Yehudi Menuhin and the Bath Festival Orchestra in the Assembly Rooms, Bath on 15th June 1965.
The opening movement, Adagio e sostenuto, begins with the imposing and tragic first subject (a descending scale over an undulating accompaniment). The solo violin rises out of the violin section to perform an extended solo passage. This is the concerto's sole cadenza and it leads directly to the second subject, an uneasy lament in 10/4 time. If the first subject is a public declaration of mourning, the second subject has the intimacy of private grieving. It is a haunting, nostalgic theme, slightly sentimental - like a Victorian ballad such as Edith Sitwell would have heard in her youth. The development section pits the sorrowing solo violin against the full-throated sobbing of the tutti orchestra whilst the recapitulation of the much transformed first subject features severe technical tests for the soloist with its double and treble stopping passages over harp and string accompaniment. The second subject returns largo tranquillo, transformed into a gentle requiem for a bygone era. It brings the movement to a hushed close with the musical argument unresolved.
The central Vivace is an acerbic scherzo - music of the night and second cousin to the central spectral Scherzo of Mahler's Seventh Symphony. Fleeting as a nightmare, its gawky, martial main theme is occasionally interrupted by a rich, soaring melody which again seems parodic in intent. A direct tribute to the irony and brilliance of Edith Sitwell's verse, the world of Façade is not far away (Walton himself is said to have admired this concerto). The Presto coda brings the movement to a spiky, spirited conclusion.
The Adagio molto Finale is a slow threnody, elegiac in character. A tender and poignant melody for solo violin ascends to celestial heights over a throbbing, kaleidoscopic orchestral accompaniment. Three tutti hammer blows of Fate divest the work of its remaining energy and the concerto ends in dignified resignation, accepting the loss it has previously railed against. As the soloist soars away, fading to a triple piano conclusion, the inevitability of the passing of life is memorably and unsentimentally caught in these final bars.  ~ MusicWeb

Seeing these LPs is a great nostalgia trip for me - thanks so much for posting them  . The double LP with the First Symphony 'Elevamini' was a revelation to me. I bought it at a great old record shop, Farringdon's in Cheapside London in the 70s or early 80s. The other one with the magnificent Violin Concerto on (it has a deeply moving last movement) I took out of the Record Library at the Commonwealth Institute in London which was near to my childhood home. The had a small selection of LPs by Commonwealth composers. It was from there that I first discovered the music of the New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn whose first two symphonies are amongst my favourites. The Williamson LP also featured a great cover of David Wynne's (I think) portrait sculpture of Yehudi Menuhin, a copy of which was then on display at the Festival Hall in London. Sculpture was and is an interest of mine so the LP combined my love of music and sculpture. Excuse the nostalgia trip but Elevamini and the Violin Concerto are well worth looking out for.

[vandermolen]

This is a super release (IMHO). I like all three works but the discovery was Malcolm Williamson's Piano Concerto 2. It is only 16 minutes long but as is often the case with Williamson contains a deeply moving and searching slow movement. Doreen Carwithen was the wife of William Alwyn and her music has a warm-hearted appeal. I have pestered Somm to issue Jacob's Concerto for Two Pianos (three hands) which is my favourite of his works.
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I see that lescamil above also notes the fineness of Williamson's Piano Concerto 2.

[Scion7]

How did they respond to yer pesterin' ?

[vandermolen]

How did they respond to yer pesterin' ?

Positively. The big boss at Somm is going to talk to 'Mark' (the pianist) about it and try to raise funds. Cyril Smith (not the disgraced Liberal MP) who recorded the only version of Jacob's double piano concerto (not released on CD) was her teacher which made her especially interested in the project.

[Brian]

I've been working my way through this set and have now listened to four of the six piano concertante works. Concertos 1 and 2 are both very short - 16 to 18 minutes - and follow a Roussel-like template: spiky, modern, rhythmically complex first movement, moving (and very soft/slow) slow movement, then jazzy witty populist finale. The Sinfonia concertante for piano, three trumpets, and strings is scored more like a Martinu piece, although it does not sound like one. The piano is an ensemble member rather than a true "soloist" at most times.

The Third Concerto is an extraordinary work, maybe even a "major" one. I could imagine it sharing a disc with the Gershwin concerto. It has two vigorous, rhythmically complex movements to start, and then an extraordinary 12-minute outpouring of a slow movement that starts with a very soft, mysterious piano solo, then adds cellos, then takes that same melody through an emotional wringer, with all sorts of orchestral interventions, surprise bass drum whacks, and brass. The finale feels like a Latin samba or rumba, a reminder of his Havana and Santiago light music. I love the "crunchy" ending where the pianist works through a series of nutty dissonant chords on the way to an affirmative major key ending.

In general, Williamson's melodies sound quite English, his orchestration is very French (so transparent! In the Third particularly, you notice initially that it sounds like a chamber orchestra, but is in fact a full orchestra where only a few musicians are playing at a time), and at times the harmonic language reminds me of Roussel, Prokofiev, Szymanowski. A fun mixture.

I still need to listen to the double concerto, much praised in this thread, and the final Concerto No. 4. This thread was a very enjoyable read. Thanks, all, and I wish Dundonnell and Mark G. Simon were still around.

[Albion]

I've been working my way through this set and have now listened to four of the six piano concertante works. Concertos 1 and 2 are both very short - 16 to 18 minutes - and follow a Roussel-like template: spiky, modern, rhythmically complex first movement, moving (and very soft/slow) slow movement, then jazzy witty populist finale. The Sinfonia concertante for piano, three trumpets, and strings is scored more like a Martinu piece, although it does not sound like one. The piano is an ensemble member rather than a true "soloist" at most times.

The Third Concerto is an extraordinary work, maybe even a "major" one. I could imagine it sharing a disc with the Gershwin concerto. It has two vigorous, rhythmically complex movements to start, and then an extraordinary 12-minute outpouring of a slow movement that starts with a very soft, mysterious piano solo, then adds cellos, then takes that same melody through an emotional wringer, with all sorts of orchestral interventions, surprise bass drum whacks, and brass. The finale feels like a Latin samba or rumba, a reminder of his Havana and Santiago light music. I love the "crunchy" ending where the pianist works through a series of nutty dissonant chords on the way to an affirmative major key ending.

In general, Williamson's melodies sound quite English, his orchestration is very French (so transparent! In the Third particularly, you notice initially that it sounds like a chamber orchestra, but is in fact a full orchestra where only a few musicians are playing at a time), and at times the harmonic language reminds me of Roussel, Prokofiev, Szymanowski. A fun mixture.

I still need to listen to the double concerto, much praised in this thread, and the final Concerto No. 4. This thread was a very enjoyable read. Thanks, all, and I wish Dundonnell and Mark G. Simon were still around.

Couldn't agree more about the Williamson piano concertos, especially when recorded as brilliantly as they were by Hyperion. I've got quite a few broadcasts and deleted recordings:

Piano Concerto No.2 (1960)
Malcolm Williamson, piano/ BBC CO/ Ashley Lawrence

Piano Concerto No.2 (1960)
Malcolm Williamson, piano/ The Francis Chagrin O/ Francis Chagrin

Our Man in Havana (1963)
Lyric Opera, Melbourne (17/9/2016)

The Display, ballet suite (1964)
Sydney SO/ John Hopkins (World Record Club LP S/5264, 1973)
 
Sinfonietta (1965, revised 1975)
Melbourne SO/ Yuval Zaliouk (RCA LP VRL 1-0192, 1978)

The Happy Prince (1965)
Pauline Stevens, alto (Prince); April Cantelo, sop (Swallow); Sheila Rex, alto (Mayor); Jean Allister, mezzo (Seamstress); Maureen Lehane, mezzo (Author); Iris Kells, sop (Match-girl); Margaret Humphrey-Clark, sop (Son); Doreen Price, sop (Rich Girl)/ Guildhall Chamber Choir/ Malcolm Williamson and Richard Rodney Bennett, pianos/ Neville Marriner and Anthony Howard, violins/ Stephen Shingles, viola/ Joy Hall, cello/ John Gray, double-bass/ James Holland and Tristan Fry, percussion/ Marcus Dods (Argo LP ZNF5, 1966)

Serenade and Aubade for Strings (1965)
BBC CO/ Vilem Tausky

Symphonic Variations (1965)
RPO/ Charles Groves

Julius Caesar Jones (1965-66)
David Pinto, alto (Julius Caesar Jones); April Cantelo, sop (Mrs Everett); Marcel Maurel, bar (Mr Everett); Norma Procter, alto (Nora Whyley); Michael Gingold, treble (John Everett); Elizabeth Eatwell, sop (Elizabeth Everett); Nigel Dant, treble (Ambrose Everett); Hilary Ann Salinger, sop (Susan Whyley); Richard Kahn, treble (Harvey Tooley Savidge); Bruce Webb, alto (Silas Gapteeth); Chandrika Angadi, sop (Aloma); Marie-Therese Pinto, sop (Babs); Sonya Levett, sop (Babs); Helen Rosenthal, mezzo (Leopard); Peter Lovett, treble (Toomie); Geoffrey Seaman, treble (Bimbo)/ Finchley Children's Music Group/ David Seaman, piano/ Neville Marriner and Diane Cummings, violins/ Stephen Shingles, viola/ Kenneth Heath, cello/
John Gray, double-bass/ William Bennett, flute/ Michael Dobson, oboe/ Thea King, clarinet/ Martin Gatt, bassoon/ Douglas Moore, horn/ Maria Korchinska, harp/ James Holland, percussion/ Jon Andrewes (Argo LP ZRG 529)

The Brilliant and the Dark (1966)
April Cantelo, sop; Sally Lesage, sop; Alfreda Hodgson, alto; Norma Procter, alto/ Avalon Singers/ Llewellyn Singers/ English Chamber O/ Antony Hopkins (Readers Digest LP RDS 9351/2, 1977)

The Violins of Saint Jacques (1966)
Brian O'Keeffe, ten (Basket Man/ Gontran); James Singleton, bar (Old Fisherman); Peter Janssen, ten (Oarsman); Handel Thomas, bass (Oarsman); Peter Tracey, bar (Netman); Michael Chattin, bass (Netman); April Cantelo, sop (Berthe); David Hillman, ten (Sosthene); Shirley Chapman, mezzo (Josephine); Tom McDonnell, bar (Sciocca); Raimund Herincx, bar (Agenor); James Singleton, bar (Gentilien); Jennifer Vyvyan, sop (Mathilde); Emile Belcourt, ten (Joubert); Frances Reid, sop (Madame Sciocca); Peter Tracey, bar (Governor Sciocca); Noel Drennan, ten (Francois); Ann Robson, mezzo (Maman Zelie)/ Chorus of Sadler's Wells/ O of Sadler's Wells/ John Barker (5/12/1968, br. 5/6/1969)

The Stone Wall (1971)
BBC Chorus/ BBC Choral Society/ BBC SO/ Colin Davis (br. 18/9/1971)

Concerto for Two Pianos and String Orchestra (1972)
Gwenneth Pryor and Malcolm Williamson, pianos/ BBC SSO/ Yuval Zaliuk (br. 4/5/1974)

Perisynthion, ballet (1974)
BBC CO/ Christopher Austin

Hammarskjold Portrait for Soprano and Strings(1974)
April Cantelo, sop/ BBC CO/ Ashley Lawrence

Mass of Christ the King (1976-78)
Eilene Hannan, sop; Elizabeth Connell, mezzo; Philip Langridge, ten; Brian Rayner Cook, bar/ Three Choirs Festival Chorus/ Goldsmith's Choral Union/ RPO/ Charles Groves (3/11/1978)

Mass of Christ the King (1976-78)
Helen Walker, sop; Eilene Hannan, sop; Neil Mackie, ten; Brian Rayner Cook, bar/ Scottish National Opera Chorus/ BBC SSO/ John Currie (20/5/1981)

Symphony No.5, Aquero (1979-80)
BBC Welsh SO/ Norman Del Mar (br. 6/1/1982)

Josip Broz Tito, a Tribute in Music (1981)
Brian Rayner Cook, bar/ BBC PO/ Vernon Handley

Symphony No.6, Liturgy of Hommage (1982)
Adelaide SO, Melbourne SO, Queensland O, Sydney SO, Tasmanian SO, West Australian SO and Darwin SO, all linked electronically/ Paul McDermott

With Proud Thanksgiving (1995)
BBC CO/ Christopher Austin

All good stuff.

 

[Brian]

Just listened to No. 4. It makes me think I misidentified Roussel as the primary French influence: really it might be Poulenc. The brutal, slashing Stravinsky-like attacks combined with the sweet, jazz-inflected ballad melodies: it's like a series of very late Poulenc concertos. This one is a little less fun in the finale and a little more "sweet" in the slow movement (the suspended cymbals and triangle are overused and sound like easy listening) but the melody is lovely.

Like you say, Albion, these performances are brilliant. Piers Lane is heroic, and the Tasmanian brass section is surprisingly punchy and powerful, with resonant horns. The trombones are very important in 3, and of course the three trumpeters in their work.

I just listened to the Chandos recordings of Santiago and the Havana suite and liked the music less. Very curious about the two ballets you list, and the ballet that was made from the Third Concerto, if the music differs any.

[Albion]

Just listened to No. 4. It makes me think I misidentified Roussel as the primary French influence: really it might be Poulenc. The brutal, slashing Stravinsky-like attacks combined with the sweet, jazz-inflected ballad melodies: it's like a series of very late Poulenc concertos. This one is a little less fun in the finale and a little more "sweet" in the slow movement (the suspended cymbals and triangle are overused and sound like easy listening) but the melody is lovely.

Like you say, Albion, these performances are brilliant. Piers Lane is heroic, and the Tasmanian brass section is surprisingly punchy and powerful, with resonant horns. The trombones are very important in 3, and of course the three trumpeters in their work.

I just listened to the Chandos recordings of Santiago and the Havana suite and liked the music less. Very curious about the two ballets you list, and the ballet that was made from the Third Concerto, if the music differs any.

Be curious no longer:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8o345q41ypd67oo/Williamson_-_The_Display%252C_ballet_suite_%25281964%2529.mp3/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9seriwkisonf0p0/Williamson_-_Perisynthion%252C_a_Ballet_in_One_Act_%25281974%2529_%255BAustin%255D.mp3/file

Regarding The Display I've got the full ballet somewhere or other. If it is of interest I'll have a rummage...

 

[Albion]

Be curious no longer:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8o345q41ypd67oo/Williamson_-_The_Display%252C_ballet_suite_%25281964%2529.mp3/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9seriwkisonf0p0/Williamson_-_Perisynthion%252C_a_Ballet_in_One_Act_%25281974%2529_%255BAustin%255D.mp3/file

Regarding The Display I've got the full ballet somewhere or other. If it is of interest I'll have a rummage...

 

Sorry, I've not managed to find the complete score, only another broadcast of the same suite in inferior sound. As with the other great Malcolm, Malcolm Arnold, Williamson added some great ballet music to the repertoire which is never heard now. Berners, Bliss, Lambert, Arnell, Bate, Britten - all excellent scores which never get played let alone choreographed today...