The music of Scots-born composer Iain Hamilton is not as obscure as that of some of the other composers represented in the Lyrita label's series of live concerts taken from BBC radio broadcasts of the 1960s through the early 1980s. Even so, he deserves the full-scale biography in the CD booklet here. Hamilton was eclectic even beyond other 20th century composers who merit that label, writing everything from light music and pops pieces to post-Webernian serialism. The three works here catch some of that range and make a case ...
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The music of Scots-born composer Iain Hamilton is not as obscure as that of some of the other composers represented in the Lyrita label's series of live concerts taken from BBC radio broadcasts of the 1960s through the early 1980s. Even so, he deserves the full-scale biography in the CD booklet here. Hamilton was eclectic even beyond other 20th century composers who merit that label, writing everything from light music and pops pieces to post-Webernian serialism. The three works here catch some of that range and make a case for reviving Hamilton's music in general. The Piano Concerto No. 1 of 1959-1960 is the serialist work, using the combination of piano and ensemble as an ordered parameter in a sequence of short sections. The Cantos for the unusual, but oddly compelling, combination of horn, tuba, harp, and orchestra are pointillist, but nonserialist, short instrumental pieces. Most interesting is the choral cantata The Bermudas, Op. 33 (1956), which sets a poem by Andrew Marvell. The structure of...
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