Pianophilia

Op. XXXIX wrote:

rob wrote:Oooooooerrrr - I've never heard of ANY of 'em. And if any had made any impact outside of Oz then I would certainly have heard of 'em. Talk about hype!!!

Wikipedia lists a whole bunch of other composers, rather bewildering I must say. Of the 'moderns', I did recognize Alfred Hill and Malcolm Williamson.

Anyone, btw, read Williamson's bio?

I had the privilege of studying with Williamson in the early 70's in grad school. He performed his 3rd Piano Concerto - which is brilliant and the school performed his opera "Our Man in Havana" which was really good, but, unfortunately never recorded. I still recall the "Thernody" from that opera. His piano music, however, is in a whole different world that I can't relate to.

fleubis wrote: I had the privilege of studying with Williamson in the early 70's in grad school. He performed his 3rd Piano Concerto - which is brilliant and the school performed his opera "Our Man in Havana" which was really good, but, unfortunately never recorded. I still recall the "Threnody" from that opera. His piano music, however, is in a whole different world that I can't relate to.

I'd like to hear more. When you care to, would you tell us a bit more about him? It was yet another of those depressing demonstrations of human nature that his passing was marked by virtually no performances of his music here in Australia. I've tried to have some of his chamber music programmed but so far with no success: he is one of the forgotten men of Australian music and I think that is a big mistake. It's certainly an uneven output, but whose isn't? Do you know the first piano sonata? It's quite a gem, perfectly crafted, fresh — innovative, even His second sonata strikes me as a bit try-hard. I don't know what he was trying to prove but it was something. I particularly think his concept of the 'cassation' for musicians and audience was something worthwhile, whose application might have a lot of value even now, or especially now.

When I was about to record his first sonata, I rang him up and asked whether I could come and play it to him. Not really interested. "Just play what's written and do it well," was about the gist of it. After the fact, we sent him a dub and I rang again. This time, he was definitely over .05 and said "It's the second best performance of it after mine. Mine's by far the best." Fair enough too.

iano

iano wrote:

fleubis wrote: I had the privilege of studying with Williamson in the early 70's in grad school. He performed his 3rd Piano Concerto - which is brilliant and the school performed his opera "Our Man in Havana" which was really good, but, unfortunately never recorded. I still recall the "Threnody" from that opera. His piano music, however, is in a whole different world that I can't relate to.

I'd like to hear more. When you care to, would you tell us a bit more about him? It was yet another of those depressing demonstrations of human nature that his passing was marked by virtually no performances of his music here in Australia. I've tried to have some of his chamber music programmed but so far with no success: he is one of the forgotten men of Australian music and I think that is a big mistake. It's certainly an uneven output, but whose isn't? Do you know the first piano sonata? It's quite a gem, perfectly crafted, fresh — innovative, even His second sonata strikes me as a bit try-hard. I don't know what he was trying to prove but it was something. I particularly think his concept of the 'cassation' for musicians and audience was something worthwhile, whose application might have a lot of value even now, or especially now.

When I was about to record his first sonata, I rang him up and asked whether I could come and play it to him. Not really interested. "Just play what's written and do it well," was about the gist of it. After the fact, we sent him a dub and I rang again. This time, he was definitely over .05 and said "It's the second best performance of it after mine. Mine's by far the best." Fair enough too.

iano

Well, my time with him was at Florida State University where he was composer in residence for period. At that time he was interested in writing Cassations, an idea that needs to be revived. He was teaching composition and I was a young student, interested in extended tonalities rather than the avant-guarde (tonal music was no much favored back then)- which Williamson could embrace on demand or go completely 12 tone or just atonal on demand. This dichotomy is something quite evident in his music. I remember once he taught a group composition class and he completely baffled the class by harmonizing a tonal melody with completely atonal chords. He was "Master of the Queen's Musicke" and gave us a very comprehensive survey of the contemporary music scene in England. He did not much care for the music of Benjamin Britten, then & now, still my favorite. Williamson was a very fine pianist and his performances attracted much attention. I am not familiar with his first piano sonata, but will seek it out.

fhimpsl wrote:And........George F. Boyle's "Songs Of The Cascade" from 1921

Frank

Boyle - Songs Of The Cascade.pdf

... and some songs to poems by Heine (nms).
BR
Leo

Well, it seems Malcolm Williamson is getting more obscure by the minute. After checking several university libraries in search of Williamson's Sonata No. 1, I tried his publisher, Boosey & Hawkes as it seems that they offer a "print-on-demand" service and it produced this response.

Thanks for your request, unfortunately this work is unavailable on special print. I have been informed by colleagues in London that a copy is available through the British Library, however you will need to contact the BL yourself to make arrangements for that.

Regards,

Laura Thompson, librarian
Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. an Imagem Company
(212) 358-5300 x.2

Print on Demand Request ID (please do not delete in any correspondence with us): 1705

=========== MATERIALS REQUESTED ============

Work: Piano Sonata No.1 [mw_009]
Composer: Williamson, Malcolm
No of Copies: 1


I guess "print-on-demand" is not all it's supposed to be at Boosey & Hawkes.

Hmm. I had lunch with a very nice B&H lady the other day (she was out here for Brett Dean's opera) and gave her a bit of a talking to over maintenance of the back catalogue. Yes, I know, bad form. She laughed nervously and said it wasn't her area... Where's Malcolm Smith when you need him?

Well, I'm certainly happy to make a copy and save the cost and hassle of the BL process. But why don't we make this a test case? Why not ask Boosey whether they will give permission for me to copy it for you and supply as a pdf? It's a good enough piece to go to the trouble.

iano

A copy of Williamson's Piano Sonata 1 is freely available at The Barbican Library here in London, and I suspect at many public libraries in the UK and Australia. I suggest you use inter-library loan in the US.

Also at the Australian Music Centre, which is licensed to make copies. Don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. Yes I do — my brain is set to largo.

http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au ... onata/4759

Today I wanted to buy a copy of Blithe Bells by Grainger. Rather surprisingly, it is NOT included in the five volumes published by Schott of his solo piano music, except in a simplified version by R. Stevenson. So given that I can't actually get hold of it normally, could someone post it here?

a ten yo scan ! (nms)