WILLIAM ALWYN (1905-1985)

Chamber Music and Songs

 

Rhapsody for Piano Quartet

Sonata Impromptu for Violin and Viola

Ballade for Viola and Piano*

Two Songs for Voice, Violin and Piano*

Three Songs to Words by Trevor Blakemore, for Voice and Piano*

Sonatina for Violin and Piano*

Three Winter Poems for String Quartet

Chaconne for Tom, for Treble Recorder and Piano *

 

*World Première Recordings

 

Madeleine Mitchell (violin), Roger Chase (viola), Andrew Ball (piano), Lucy Wilding (cello), Jeremy Huw WiIliams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), Bridge String Quartet, John Turner (treble recorder)

 

William Alwyn composed prolifically in virtually all genres, orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental. Like his contemporary Samuel Barber, Alwyn was an unashamed Romantic who preferred his music to appeal to the heart rather than to the head.

 

The works presented here, five of which are recorded for the first time, cover a period of fifty years from the Two Songs for Voice, Violin and Piano of 1931 to the Chaconne For Tom for recorder and piano dating from 1982. In each of these pieces Alwyn’s compositional gift and technical mastery of his chosen medium are immediately apparent.

 

The Naxos Alwyn series has been highly acclaimed in the musical press: “Spirited and well-recorded performances that will win new friends for Alwyn.” MusicWeb

 

Naxos 8570340