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William ALWYN(1905-1985) Chamber Music and Songs
Rhapsody for piano quartet (1938) [9:20]
Sonata-Impromptu for violin and viola (1939) [16:44]
Ballade for viola and piano (1939) [10:01]
Two Songs for voice, violin and piano (1931) [4:37]: Wood Magic, Lament
of the Tall Tree
Three Songs to Poems by Trevor Blakemore (1940) [6:40]:
Nocturne, Illumination, Harvest
Sonatina for violin and piano (1933) [10:30]
Three Winter Poems for string quartet (1948) [9:00]: Winter Landscape, Elegy-Frozen
Waters, Serenade-Snow
Shower Chaconne for Tomfor treble recorder
and piano
Madeleine
Mitchell (violin), Roger Chase
(viola),
Andrew Ball (piano: rhapsody, ballade, sonatina) Lucy Wilding
(cello), Jeremy Huw
Williams (baritone: songs) Iain Burnside (piano: songs, chaconne),
Bridge String Quartet, John Turner (treble
recorder)
rec. 22 March (chaconne), 17 and 18 August (rhapsody,
sonata, ballade) and 10 and 11 October (songs) 2006 at
Potton Hall, Westleton,
Suffolk
Booklet notes by Andrew Knowles and John Turner NAXOS 8.570340 [70:15]
This disc is built
around two themes. The first is a survey of Alwyn chamber music
and songs from throughout his career, although mostly from
the 1930s and 1940s. The second theme is the personnel: all
friends and colleagues of the violinist Madeleine Mitchell
in her activities with the RCM, the Bridge String Quartet and
in duos with Andrew Ball and Jeremy Huw Williams. This makes
for both proficient musicianship and a relaxed but committed
atmosphere that serves Alwyn well.
The first piece
I listened to has been a favorite of mine since its recording
nearly fifteen years ago on Chandos: the Sonata-Impromptu for
Violin and Viola. I found the performance here even better
than the Chandos one with a wonderful rapport between Ms. Mitchell
and the violist Roger Chase. The piece is a fine example of
both the composer’s technical ability and his imagination -
see the variations of the second section. A similar ability
to combine different compositional elements is seen in the
Rhapsody for Piano Quartet. It’s a work in which the rhythmic,
fugal, contrapuntal and creative aspects are perfectly synthesized.
In this performance Andrew Ball provides yeoman-like support
from the piano, giving the other three players each a chance
to shine.
Of only slightly
less interest is the Ballade for Viola and Piano, which is
just as much a Rhapsody as the piece discussed above. It was
written for the well-known violist Watson Forbes and the pianist
Myers Foggin. I think Alwyn had a predilection for the viola
as the viola part is sometimes the most interesting in his
chamber music. This piece starts out in Baxian mystery and
ends up in French sunshine, again demonstrating the composer’s
stylistic range. The intensity is restored with the 1948 Three
Winter Poems for String Quartet, dedicated to the composer’s
teacher Sir John McEwen. Although this piece antedates by five
years his String Quartet No.1, Alwyn had already written a
dozen quartets at the Royal Academy and his handling of the
medium and ability to use it to express his thoughts are quite
evident. The Winter Landscape is exactly that - a perfect
recollection of what one feels in the winter. The second piece
is full of suppressed turbulence - waiting for the ice to crack.
The instruments are beautifully used here. There is a more
elegiac tone at the end. In the last piece a little of the
tension is dissipated. The Bridge Quartet shows off their wonderful
ensemble in this piece with the individual lines very clear.
They are helped in this by the engineer Michael Ponder.
Alwyn’s songs tend
to be more removed, almost magisterial, than his instrumental
works. The ones here are no exception. The two songs for the
interesting combination of voice, violin and piano are early
works (1931) and set to texts written by the composer, who
was a poet, translator and painter as well as musician. The
first is quite serene, while the second is a true lament. I
found Jeremy Huw Williams not totally convincing in the first,
but better in the second, where there is a slight suggestion
of the Housman songs of Vaughan Williams. The more substantial
Blakemore poems form a sort of vocal counterpart to the Three
Winter Poems with the unifying subject being various aspects
of love. Jeremy Huw Williams is much stronger here, ably handling
a wide variety of shades of emotion. Iain Burnside supports
him well.
The two smaller
instrumental worked are both charming and the Sonatina has
to qualify as one of the composer’s most lyrical works. Given
the excellence of the performances and the fact that five of
the eight works on the disc are world premieres, no admirer
of Alwyn should hesitate to purchase this disc, not even those
who have all of the chamber discs made by Chandos. Recording
quality is generally excellent and frequently adds to the general
impressiveness.
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