William Alwyn (1905-1985) was an inspired and accomplished English composer of unquestioned skill and professionalism, but his music, while immediately attractive, never quite rises to the level that would put him in the first rank of composers. His harmonic language is reminiscent of Vaughan Williams, but his melodies don't have the folk-like directness that makes Vaughan Williams such a successful vocal composer. Alwyn was especially gifted as a dramatic composer and wrote dozens of film scores as well as a very effective ...
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William Alwyn (1905-1985) was an inspired and accomplished English composer of unquestioned skill and professionalism, but his music, while immediately attractive, never quite rises to the level that would put him in the first rank of composers. His harmonic language is reminiscent of Vaughan Williams, but his melodies don't have the folk-like directness that makes Vaughan Williams such a successful vocal composer. Alwyn was especially gifted as a dramatic composer and wrote dozens of film scores as well as a very effective opera, Miss Julie, which has never been staged, but is strong enough that it could well hold the stage if it's ever produced. The songs here embody his lyrical aesthetic vision and display his compositional inventiveness, but few are memorable enough to make it into the repertoire. The CD includes four song cycles written between 1970 and 1980, and a single song from 1947. It's perhaps telling that it's difficult to discern any stylistic development between the earliest and latest...
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