William Alwyn - Chamber Works Vol. 2

William ALWYN (1905-1985)

Chamber Works Volume 2

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano

Divertimento for Solo flute

Crepuscule for Solo Harp

Sonata for Oboe and Piano

Sonata for Flute and Piano

Sonata Impromptu for Violin and Viola

The Haffner Wind Ensemble of London with Guests

Nicholas Daniel 

Kate Hill - flute

Joy Farrall - clarinet

Leland Chen - violin

Clare McFarlane - viola

Ieuan Jones - harp

Julius Drake - piano

Recorded August 19-23, 1992 at The  Faculty Of Music Concert Hall, West Road, Cambridge

Painting: Bird of Paradise Flowers by William Alwyn

Review:

For much of his lifetime William Alwyn was looked upon as a composer's composer, relied upon for his utter professionalism, both in terms of the craftsmanship of his music (particularly in his film scores) and in what is asked of, and offered the performer. I remember, for example, during a performance by John Ogden of Alwyn's Fantasy-Waltzes, Hans Keller passing me a not which read "Alwyn is one of the very few composers who knows how to write a waltz". Hans didn't give that kind of praise easily. (It strikes me that, less than ten years later, all three men are dead.) The few pieces that made it to the ears of a wider public - mainly thanks to Lyrita's pioneering LPs - confirmed the quality of Alwyn's muse. And there it seemed to stop: nothing "next" came along to launch Alwyn as one of Britain's more important traditional - i.e. tonal - composers. Now, as Hyperion for Robert Simpson. Chandos' ongoing series of recordings (each with a reproduction of one of Alwyn's striking paintings on the front) have revealed that Alwyn was indeed a master symphonist, a composer who was certainly a consummate craftsman - and was also a powerful and original voice.

This second in Chandos' recording of the chamber music reflects Alwyn's expert knowledge of just how far he could push his performers. The Clarinet Sonata of 1962 contains some cruelly high writing for the instrument. Alwyn described it as "a fantasy-sonata full of dramatic contrasts" which is fair comment, if slightly disingenuous - it contains extremes as marked as anything else in the English pastoral tradition within which it loosely sits...........

The prime mover of this series seems to have been Mary Alwyn, the composer's widow. She can allow herself the satisfaction of seeing her husband's name firmly enshrined in the symphonic mainstream: and if individual players and chamber musicians wonder what gems there might be for their own instruments, they could do worse than keep an eye on the Chandos new-release sheets.

Martin Anderson (Fanfare)