Malcolm Williamson Piano Concerto Gwenneth Pryor Vinyl LP Record Gatefold VG+

Description: Yes we combine shipping for multiple purchases.Add multiple items to your cart and the combined shipping total will automatically be calculated. 1975 Malcolm Williamson Piano Concerto Gwenneth Pryor Vinyl LP Record Gatefold VG+ Record Grade per Goldmine Standard: VG+ Malcolm Williamson, Gwenneth Pryor, Strings Of The English Chamber Orchestra, Yuval Zaliouk – Concerto For Piano And Strings / Concerto For Two Pianos And Strings Malcolm WilliamsonMalcolm Williamson, Australian by birth and nowresident in Britain, began composing at the age of fourand also played both piano and organ from an earlyage. At the age of eleven he began studies in piano atthe Conservatoire in Sydney, including compositionwith Sir Eugene Goossens in the latter part of his sevenyears there. In 1950 Williamson visited England for thefirst time and made his home in this country twoyears later.During the last twenty years, Williamson has shownhimself a prolific composer and his music, tonal andbased on classical forms in an age of dissonants,electronic and aleatoric music, retains an originalityand freshness which has attracted a wide andappreciative audience. A composer very much inspiredby literature, Williamson wrote his first opera, Our Manin Havana in 1963 and went on to write two verysuccessful operas for children, Julius Caesar Jonesand The Happy Prince, The Growing Castie based onStrindberg's A Dream Play, Lucky Peter's Journey andThe Violins of St Jacques.A fine organist himself, Williamson has also addedconsiderably to the contemporary repertoire of organmusic including an Organ Concert, Peace Pieces andMass of a Medieval Saint. He has written three pianoconcertos, two piano sonatas and a number of worksfor two pianos, a sonority which has interested himsince his student days when he studied a great deal ofthe symphonic and orchestral repertoire in this form.His works for two pianos include a Sonata, a Concertoand a Five-movement Passacaglia. Among his recentcompositions are Musicians of Bremen, written for theKing's Singers, his third symphony The Icy Mirror, forsoloists, chorus and orchestra to words by UrsulaVaughan Williams and HammarskjoldPortrait^soprano and orchestra given its first performance atthe 1974 Promenade Concerts.Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra1.Allegro con brio2.Andante Lento3.Allegro con spiritoThis concerto, a lively, jaunty work, is the second ofWilliamson's three concertos for solo piano andorchestra. Its composition, though not exactly takingthe composer from rags to riches overnight, did bringmuch needed financial reward during his 'strugglingcomposer' period ! The work was completed in eightdays in order to meet the closing date of a competitionsponsored by the University of Western Australia for apiano concerto with string orchestra - and won firstprize. It deservedly remains one of his most popularworks and Williamson himself has given performancesof the work all overthe world.The two outer movements make much of off-beat jazzrhythms and percussive writing forthe piano andabound in tuneful themes. The slow movement,described by the composer as 'plainchantesque'provides a lovely moment of repose in a work which ischaracterized by gay optimism and an appealingvitality.Concerto for Two Pianos and Strings1.Allegro ma non troppo2.Lento3.Allegro vivoThis work, in its vitality akin to the Concerto for Pianoand Strings, is structurally a much more complex work.It was commissioned by the Australian Arts Counciland the Astra Chamber Orchestra for performanceby two American pianists, Charles H. Webb, Dean ofMusic at the University of Indiana, and WallaceHornibrook. Using the musical letters contained in thenames of the two pianists Williamson constructed atwenty-note theme which forms the basis of the wholework. The theme appears in each movement in afascinating variety of forms together with a modalascending and descending scale as an additionalunifying factor.However, while the eye can appreciate the intricacyand subtlety of the theme's use the ear is consciousonly of a marvellously satisfying and unified work. Thejagged outline of the theme appears atthe opening ofthe first movement and its metamorphosis isaccompanied in the outer movements by percussiverhythms and virtuosic, effective writing for the twopianos. In the central slow movement the theme issmoothed out into a melody of much beauty and amood of tranquillity.The concerto was composed in 1972 and is dedicatedto Alice and Arthur Nagle, the American duo pianists.Epitaphs for Edith SitwellThe two short movements which compriseWilliamson's Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell were originallywritten for solo organ and commissioned by theAldeburgh Festival for its memorial concert for DameEdith in 1965. The first performance was given bySimon Preston and was subsequently recorded byAllan Wicks on the organ of Canterbury Cathedral(CSD 3657). The string version recorded here wascommissioned by Sam Wanamakerfor a ShakespeareMemorial Concert given in Southwark Cathedralin 1969.The pieces lose nothing in transcription from organ tostrings but rather take on a new dimension asWilliamson parallels the enormous range of the organregister by writing divisi for each section of the stringsand by effective use of string sonorities and techniques,Thematic material for the work is taken fromWilliamson's Violin Concerto which was dedicated tothe memory of Dame Edith, whose book inspired thelibretto of Williamson's opera English Eccentrics. Themusic is, of course, elegiac in mood but, one feels,forceful in its protest atthe cruelty of death rather thanresigned to its inevitability.Sue Regan 1975 lp1520

Price: 10.46 USD

Location: Kingsport, Tennessee

End Time: 2024-04-28T10:34:02.000Z

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