There is no doubt in
my mind that British composers contributed
more to the development of the symphony
in the 20th century than any other single
country. Although we are used to hearing
the symphonies of Elgar, Vaughan Williams
and Walton, the remainder have languished
in virtually continuous obscurity since
the late 1950s, mainly as a result of
the change in attitudes to tonal music.
William Alwyn is a
composer best known for his contribution
to film music. In this respect
he is very similar to Malcolm Arnold
who also wrote film scores as well as
contributing nine works to the symphonic
repertoire. Alwyn was exactly contemporary
with Michael Tippett, but how different
his music sounds! Whilst he cannot be
said to epitomize the English "pastoral"
school, in some reviews of his music
he has been accused of being the "master
of the art of nostalgia". I must
say that very little of this "nostalgia"
comes over to me in the two symphonies
included on this disc.
Like Malcolm Arnold,
Alwyn has been well served by excellent
recordings of his symphonies but he
has been less lucky than Arnold in the
concert hall. Although I can recall
performances of Malcolm Arnold's 5th
and 6th symphonies in London recently,
I have no such recall for any William
Alwyn symphony. Indeed one has to go
back to the Musical Times archive
to find out what people thought of his
symphonies in live performances. His
first symphony was premiered at the
1950 Cheltenham Festival for British
music (as it was then called) and
was dismissed as "film music"
by the critic. The Times critic was
equally disparaging in his review of
the first London performance under Barbirolli
in 1953. However, the first performance
of his Fourth Symphony by Hugo Rignold
and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
in the 1960s was well received. Interestingly,
his third symphony was described by
John Ireland as "the greatest English
symphony since Elgar’s second"
– praise indeed, and The Times critic
at the first performance described the
Third as being "able to bridge
the gap that now unfortunately exists
between the contemporary symphonic composer
and the general public". Good for
Alwyn!
The recordings of symphonies
2 and 5 on this Naxos disc are very
welcome. The competition comes from
Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra
on Chandos and Alwyn's own performances
on Lyrita (available from Harold Moores’
records). I have not had personally
the opportunity to hear the rival versions
but critics have praised the warmth
of the Chandos recordings in comparison
to the edginess and greater bite of
all Alwyn's own performances.
The Naxos disc begins,
somewhat curiously, with the symphonies
in reverse order of composition. The
Fifth Symphony was Alwyn's last work
in this genre and is a short and incisive
piece - in one continuous movement lasting
less than 15 minutes. It was commissioned
by the Norfolk and Norwich Triennial
Festival (Alwyn was living locally in
Suffolk at the time) and inspired by
the immortal memory of Sir Thomas Browne,
the great Norwich physician and philosopher
- obviously something of a hero for
William Alwyn. Browne's great elegy
"A discourse of the sepulchral
urns lately found in Norfolk"
(now more generally known by its subtitle
"Urn burial") is prefaced
with the word "Hydriotaphia"
and this is the subtitle given to Alwyn’s
symphony. Those expecting an introspective
pastoral discourse will be rudely awakened
by the power of this score, brilliantly
played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra under David Lloyd Jones.
Alwyn's concerto for
harp and string orchestra, a gentle
work entitled Lyra Angelica,
makes a very satisfying bridge between
these two symphonies. It is a beautiful
and subtle work with great elegance
of both string and harp writing. Suzanne
Willison was principal harpist with
the European Union Youth Orchestra and
now plays with the flautist Catherine
Baker as the Alwyn duo - who incidentally
gave some excellent performances at
the Alwyn Centenary Concert (shared
with Rawsthorne and Lambert) at the
Purcell Room earlier this year (2005).
The disc concludes
with the Symphony No. 2 – which was
first performed by the Halle Orchestra
under Barbirolli, a great champion of
Alwyn, in 1953. At its London premiere
the following year it was described
as a "fine and well proportioned
symphony". Alwyn tells us in his
sleeve-notes that the symphony was his
favourite of the five and was originally
conceived in one continuous span, now
only broken by a momentary pause before
part two. It is an energetic and powerful
work where each movement starts with
great strength and agitation and then
gently dies away at the end. As one
of the premier film composers of his
time, it should come as no surprise
to the listener to suddenly be confronted
with a beautifully luscious adagio theme,
as at the end of the first movement.
Indeed in much of the music of William
Alwyn that I have heard, he has a remarkable
ability to contrast severe and intense
music with wonderfully luxurious and
romantic themes, rather like Walton.
William Alwyn was not
only a composer but also a poet and
artist and apparently accumulated an
excellent collection of pre-Raphaelite
paintings. It is thus rather appropriate,
especially given the Lyra Angelica
for harp on this recording, that the
painting, ‘The Harp Player' of
Dante Gabriel Rossetti adorns the front
of this CD. Committed lovers of English
symphonic music will undoubtedly already
have either the Hickox or Alwyn versions
of the symphonies already in their collections.
However, for those unfamiliar with his
music and coming across his name for
the first time in this his centenary
year, this Naxos disc, alongside the
fine recordings of the piano concertos
already reviewed
in MusicWeb, will make an excellent
starting point. Warmly recommended.
Em Marshall
see also reviews
by Rob
Barnett [Bargain of the month] and
Dave
Billinge
link to William
Alwyn Website
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
