Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson wrote music that absorbed serial technique, Messiaen, jazz and popular song, then settled into a fundamentally tonal and lyrical language. His catalogue runs from piano sonatas and concertos to hymns, cassations and large choral scores.
The First Piano Sonata sits almost neo-classically among later Australian piano works: clear-lined, measured, and without excess. Elsewhere he wrote for voices at every scale, from congregational hymn tunes that entered Australian worship books to substantial choral and orchestral scores. Operas, ballets, film music and short participatory cassations for children sit beside seven symphonies and a run of concertos for piano, violin, organ, harp and saxophone. The thread is directness of line and a willingness to let melody carry the argument.
Compositions by Malcolm Williamson appear on
Sing Together Alleluia
Hymns sung by the Sing Alleluia Music Ministry Team, drawn from Sing Alleluia, appear in Together in Song: Australian Hymn Book II. The selection favours material not already on the earlier two-disc companion set.
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Grand Organ
Historic recordings from the 1979 inaugural recital series that launched the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Grand Organ, Ronald Sharp’s vast mechanical-action instrument.
Gold
The Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence, performs works by eight Australian composers. From Gordon Kerry’s Shakespeare setting to Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics, the programme turns individual voices into pure gold.