THE FILM MUSIC OF WILLIAM ALWYN (1905–1985) The Film Music

Volume 3

Arranged by Philip Lane

 

Suite from ‘The Magic Box’

The Million Pound Note

The Way Ahead

The Rocking Horse Winner

Suite from ‘Geordie’

The Cure for Love

Suite from ‘Penn of Pennsylvania’

The True Glory

Suite from ‘The Running Man’

 

BBC Philharmonic

Yuri Torchinsky leader

Rumon Gamba

 

Alwyn contributed nearly 200 scores for the cinema, beginning his career in film music in 1936 with music for documentaries. In recognition of his services to the medium of film he was made a Fellow of the British Film Academy, the only composer ever to have received this honour.

The Magic Box was especially made for the 1951 Festival of Britain as an example of British film-making, and recounts the true story of a man who spent his career perfecting the art of the moving image. The Million Pound Note tells of two millionaires who test how far the simple ownership of a one million pound banknote could take a man in life. In The Way Ahead, a group of men from varying walks of life are called up for active duty in WWII and are transformed into first class soldiers. Based on the children’s classic, Swiss Family Robinson relates the adventures of a family ship-wrecked on a desert island. The Rocking Horse Winner concerns a boy who can predict horse-race winners by riding his rocking horse, and amasses a considerable fortune. Geordie tells the story of a raw Scottish youth who becomes an Olympic hammer-throwing champion. The Cure for Love is a comedy about a soldier who returns on leave to discover that his girlfriend has not been faithful to him; matters are

complicated by the appearance of a rival for his affections. Penn of Pennsylvania tells of William Penn who establishes a new colony in America so that he and his fellow Quakers can escape their continual persecution in England. The Running Man concerns a couple who attempt to defraud an insurance company, but whose plan goes awry when the insurance investigator falls in love with the wife. Finally, the documentary The True Glory shows the campaign in Europe from D-Day to the fall of Berlin. 

 

His film music may have earned him the derision of the Establishment - as a fine new biography reveals - but Alwyn was a master of creating atmosphere with a real economy of style. Rumon Gamba gives a series of rip-roaring performances with the ever-excellent BBC Philharmonic in what is fast turning into one of Chandos's most appealing mini-series.

Gramophone

 

Chandos CHAN10349