It is now twelve years
since William Mathias’s sudden and untimely
death in 1992. The void that he left
in Welsh music has yet to be filled.
Indeed, the unending energy and enthusiasm
he brought to Welsh musical life as
composer, teacher and administrator
will continue to be missed for many
more years to come.
His extensive output,
whilst better represented on disc than
the work of many of his contemporaries,
has suffered since the sad demise of
Nimbus, a label that lent considerable
support to his music. This new disc
from Metronome is therefore most welcome,
particularly in light of the fact that
it introduces works new to the Mathias
discography.
Mathias was no stranger
to music of celebration (had he still
been alive I have little doubt that
he would have been the first choice
for Master of the Queen’s Music in succession
to Malcolm Williamson) and his Intrada
for small orchestra is a good example
of his ability to write appropriately
for specific occasions. In this case
the occasion was the 1971 opening of
a range of new university buildings
overlooking Cardigan Bay at Aberystwyth.
Intrada is scored for a modest
band of two oboes, two horns and strings
and is a vigorous, life-affirming concert-opener
that skilfully gathers in momentum before
reaching a joyous conclusion capturing
the peeling of bells in the horns.
For the Songs
of William Blake, Mathias chose
to employ a luminous ensemble of celesta,
harp and piano to complement the strings.
The vocal line was originally written
for the contralto Helen Watts, who was
forced to withdraw from the premiere
in 1979 due to the wide tessitura demanded
by Mathias’s vocal writing. At the time
Alfreda Hodgson stepped into the breach
although in 2002 Jeremy Huw Williams
re-established the cycle utilising his
own baritone voice. Whether Williams’
baritone "revealed a depth and
richness in the music" hitherto
untapped, as the booklet notes maintain,
is perhaps open to opinion but what
is undeniable is the sheer emotional
range and sense of drama that Mathias
packs into this substantial thirty minute
song cycle. Mathias uses The Lamb
and The Tyger at the centre of
the cycle, framing the work with two
slow songs, To Morning and To
The Evening Star. The Tyger
bristles with dark, declamatory fervour
whilst To The Evening Star is
set as a wonderfully atmospheric processional
in epilogue. Despite the occasional
hint of strain at the top of his register
Williams makes a strong case for the
work, which leaves a lasting impression
and is certainly capable of holding
its head up with the song cycles of
Britten.
David Pyatt’s exceptional
playing cannot be faulted in the Horn
Concerto of 1984. Cast in four movements
the longest of which is the affecting
Nocturne, placed third, the piece
is typically inventive Mathias, full
of engaging melody and taut thematic
control and development. The added dimension
here is a prominent part for timpani
which Mathias insisted were to be treated
as the horn’s equal. These appear in
all movements apart from the fleeting
yet ebullient Scherzo.
Threnos is
the latest of the works here recorded,
dating from just two years before the
composer’s death. It was written in
response to a commission from the Lichfield
Festival in tribute to their festival
director Gordon Clarke, who had himself
died suddenly. Mathias constructs a
major single movement structure for
strings of over eighteen minutes duration.
The music explores a wide range of moods
and sonorities that draw on diverse
expressions of grief and emotion resulting
from loss. The result is both impressively
cohesive and deeply affecting being
without doubt one of the most important
works of Mathias’s latter years.
Brief though it is,
the beautifully touching setting of
the Welsh folk song Hobed o
Hilion that ends the disc
serves as both an encore and a musical
epitaph to a composer for whom Wales
was inseparable from his life and music.
Jeremy Huw Williams once again sings
with considerable sensitivity.
Although formed in
1986 by Anthony Hose, the conductor
on this disc, this is the first commercial
CD by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra. I
hope it is the first of others for they
clearly respond well to both the music
and Hose’s direction. The comprehensive
and informative booklet notes by Geraint
Lewis are reproduced in both English
and Welsh.
Christopher Thomas
see also William
Mathias biography
Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone); David Pyatt (horn)
