01. - 05. Our Man In Havana. Orchestral Suite from the opera [19'58]
06. - 08. Sinfonia Concertante for piano, three trumpets and strings * [19'00]
09. Santiago de Espada. Overture for Orchestra [5'57]
10. - 12. Sinfonietta [18'10]
13. - 14. Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell [7'25]
Caroline Almonte- piano*, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Mills
ABC Classics 4768039 [recorded April and December 2004; digital download released May 2009]
[digital download; cover and inlay scans - no booklet]
Recording venue: Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, Australia
Recording engineer: Andrew Dixon; Producer: Brooke Green
The Australian composer, Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, was born in Sydney in 1931 into a clerical family and entered the Sydney Conservatoire at the age of 11. He became known as a piano and organ virtuoso but then moved to the United Kingdom where he spent his whole working life. Indeed he was appointed Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 through to his death in March 2003. But he remained an Australian at heart, committed to humanitarian causes and the plight of many aboriginals. From the mid-1950s onward his works often contained elements of popular music juxtaposed with flirts with dodecaphony and intensely serious religious music. Elements of this dichotomy can be found in the music on this issue, finely played by the Tasmanian Symphony under Richard Mills. Williamson's prolific output substantially reduced later in life (even for the Royal family) when he suffered from chronic alcoholism and performances of his music dwindled to a rarity.
Unfortunately, as usual with ABC Classics, no booklet is provided so I am indebted to Paul Conway for his lengthy article on Williamson and his music for MusicWeb International, 20 years ago, for most of the following brief information. If you want to know more about the composer, I highly recommend that article.
Williamson's first full-scale opera Our Man in Havana was written for Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in 1963 (now English National Opera). Although enthusiastically received at the time, it was not a long-term success - partly blamed on the libretto derived from Graham Greene's novel. It remained largely unperformed until revived at the Melbourne Athanaeum (with the Buena Vista Antisocial Club playing) in 2016. The orchestral suite drawn from the opera in 1966 seems to highlight the comedic and popular dance elements of the score.
The delightful, if lightweight overture Santiago de Espada, dedicated to Adrian Boult, would make a perfect concert opener. One of his finest works, the Sinfonia Concertante from 1961 was originally known as Symphony No.2 but the title was changed to reflect the concertante writing for the four solo instruments; the three trumpets being drawn from the orchestra. Each of the three movements has a religious superscription.
The Sinfonietta was commissioned by the BBC for the opening of Radio 3 in 1965 and first performed by Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia. 10 years later, Frederich Ashton created a ballet from the score for the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. The two Epitaphs for Edith Sitwell, a close friend, were originally written for solo organ to be played at the beginning and end of an 'In Memoriam Edith Sitwell' programme given at the 1966 Aldeburgh Festival. They were later orchestrated for stings by the composer in 1972.
