William Alwyn

[Symphonic Addict]

Just discovered on YouTube, this fine live performance of Alwyn's stunningly beautiful "Lyra Angelica":

https://youtu.be/3WI1bzaP_Ys

Stunningly beautiful indeed! Thanks for sharing it. A pity that it's only the 1st movement.

[vandermolen]

Stunningly beautiful indeed! Thanks for sharing it. A pity that it's only the 1st movement.

It's available in expensively on this fine collection of Alwyn's music:


PS I see from WAYLTN thread that you have this disc! Cesar. I like all three works very much.

[Symphonic Addict]

It's available in expensively on this fine collection of Alwyn's music:


PS I see from WAYLTN thread that you have this disc! Cesar. I like all three works very much.

Yes, I have them, Jeffrey, including those on Chandos. Really stupendous works. Alwyn is one of my very favorites.

[Symphonic Addict]

I tend to consider his symphonies 2, 3 and 5 as his finest, and curiously being the most serious and intense. 1 and 4 have a more amiable mood but they're not as gripping as the former.

[vandermolen]

I tend to consider his symphonies 2, 3 and 5 as his finest, and curiously being the most serious and intense. 1 and 4 have a more amiable mood but they're not as gripping as the former.

Playing No.3 (Hickox) at the moment. The Violin Concerto was a major discovery for me in the last couple of years. I wish that the Chandos 2 CD set of British Violin concertos performed by Lydia Mordkovitch had included it rather than the far less interesting one by Bax for example.
I like all of Alwyn's symphonies but 2,3 and 5 are especially strong. I also like No.1 (and 4 ). Odd Man Out (film score) is possibly the work that I play most often by Alwyn along with the Violin Concerto.

[relm1]

Playing No.3 (Hickox) at the moment. The Violin Concerto was a major discovery for me in the last couple of years. I wish that the Chandos 2 CD set of British Violin concertos performed by Lydia Mordkovitch had included it rather than the far less interesting one by Bax for example.
I like all of Alwyn's symphonies but 2,3 and 5 are especially strong. I also like No.1 (and 4 ). Odd Man Out (film score) is possibly the work that I play most often by Alwyn along with the Violin Concerto.

I think I remember also enjoying his piano concerto (s?) and it seems there isn't much from him I don't enjoy.  We seem to have the same musical tastes, vandermolen.  From now on, we shall be known as vanderlm1. 

[vandermolen]

I think I remember also enjoying his piano concerto (s?) and it seems there isn't much from him I don't enjoy.  We seem to have the same musical tastes, vandermolen.  From now on, we shall be known as vanderlm1.

Excellent idea! 
He wrote two piano concertos - you can get them together on one Chandos or Naxos CD or coupled with symphonies 1 and 5 I think. I recall enjoying them but don't think they are as memorable as the beautiful Violin Concerto. I must listen to them again.
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[Maestro267]

It's a bit of a shame the Piano Concertos are on the short side. Good job the Violin Concerto is a bit more weighty.

[Klaatu]

Symphony 5 is a wonderful score, from the "ghoulish rushing sound" (Peter Pirie's description) that opens the symphony, to the haunting final section with its tolling bells, impassioned strings and ambivalent, major/minor close.

The atmosphere of that concluding section very much reminds me of "Saturn" from Holst's Planets Suite - the "bringer of old age" and mortality; Alwyn's inspiration for No. 5 was the poem Hydriotaphia by Sir Thomas Browne, with its famous lines

Man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave.

[vandermolen]

Symphony 5 is a wonderful score, from the "ghoulish rushing sound" (Peter Pirie's description) that opens the symphony, to the haunting final section with its tolling bells, impassioned strings and ambivalent, major/minor close.

The atmosphere of that concluding section very much reminds me of "Saturn" from Holst's Planets Suite - the "bringer of old age" and mortality; Alwyn's inspiration for No. 5 was the poem Hydriotaphia by Sir Thomas Browne, with its famous lines

Man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave.

I heard Alwyn conduct it on the radio when I was on holiday in the Yorkshire Moors many decades ago. I wrote to him (c/o Lyrita I guess) saying how much I'd enjoyed the work and had a very nice reply from him.

[relm1]

It's a bit of a shame the Piano Concertos are on the short side. Good job the Violin Concerto is a bit more weighty.

But like Prokofiev's No. 1, I felt his short Piano Concerto's felt longer than they were...it's hard to explain.  But sometimes short is good too.

[vandermolen]

Alwyn's Prelude for the film 'Odd Man Out' (arranged Christopher Palmer). This is actually one of my favourites works by Alwyn, much as I love the symphonies, the Violin Concerto, Lyra Angelica, Elizabethan Dances and The Magic Island etcetera. and should be heard by any Alwyn fan:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EwXCsS85OXY

[Figaro]

I am exploring Alwyn at the moment - I have the Symphonies and string quartets on naxos - and whilst I don't find anything to dislike, so far I can't honestly say I've heard much in the way of a signature "sound" or style which is easy to recognise (like with say Robert Simpson or Malcolm Arnold, both composers who I actually don't like as much as Alwyn), or anything which I can say is particularly typical of him or that he does better than anyone else. His sound seems to be what I consider the generic mid-century British tonal modernism - nothing that the likes of Tippett or Daniel Jones didn't do better.

Am I missing something or is my initial judgement correct - that his music is well crafted and inoffensive but not particularly distinctive or memorable?

[Maestro267]

You're probably not wrong, but when I really fancy listening to some Alwyn, nothing quite beats Alwyn for that.

[Klaze]

I am exploring Alwyn at the moment - I have the Symphonies and string quartets on naxos - and whilst I don't find anything to dislike, so far I can't honestly say I've heard much in the way of a signature "sound" or style which is easy to recognise (like with say Robert Simpson or Malcolm Arnold, both composers who I actually don't like as much as Alwyn), or anything which I can say is particularly typical of him or that he does better than anyone else. His sound seems to be what I consider the generic mid-century British tonal modernism - nothing that the likes of Tippett or Daniel Jones didn't do better.

Am I missing something or is my initial judgement correct - that his music is well crafted and inoffensive but not particularly distinctive or memorable?

In my opinion, no you aren't missing anything. I bought a bunch of recommended recordings but quickly sold them/gave them away. As you say, too generic. I find the days are usually too short to listen to Alwyn.

[Daverz]

Am I missing something

I can only recommend three favorite works: the Symphony No. 4, the Concerto Grosso No. 1, the Violin Concerto, and Lyra Angelica.  If none of those grab you, you have my official permission to move on.

[Figaro]

That's four works... I'll give s4 and the Lyra Angelica another go today.

It's not so much that it doesn't grab me - I can tell it's good music - just that I haven't yet been able to identify a signature style or point of difference that says "This is an Alwyn composition". Would someone who's a big fan be able to suggest something for me to listen out for?

[Figaro]

Lyra Angelica is lovely and would be a lot better known if it were by Ravel or Poulenc. Probably as good as any harp concerto out there, which isn't admittedly a crowded field. But I suppose that's my point - I struggle to say how it sounds like Alwyn more than like Ravel, just as I struggle to say how the symphonies sound more like Alwyn than late Vaughan Williams, or Malcolm Arnold.

[vandermolen]

Actually the Prelude to 'Odd Man Out' is one of my favourite works by Alwyn. It only lasts 4 mins so I'd give it a listen to before giving up with Alwyn completely.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFHLmJpsFo

As to other works my favourites are Symphony No.2, Lyra Angelica and the inexplicably IMO neglected Violin Concerto. Actually I enjoy all the symphonies. John Ireland though that Symphony No.3 was the greatest British symphony since Elgar although I think that's overstating it a bit.

PS

Another short work by Alwyn which I thoroughly enjoy is his atmospheric 'The Magic Island' after Shakespeare's 'The Tempest':
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBMWwnJhtPE

[Irons]

I can only recommend three favorite works: the Symphony No. 4, the Concerto Grosso No. 1, the Violin Concerto, and Lyra Angelica.  If none of those grab you, you have my official permission to move on.

A great selection. I might suggest before moving on give Mrs Alwyn aka Doreen Carwithen a listen. A Chandos CD of her Piano Concerto amongst other pieces is excellent.