Symphony No. 4/ Sinfonietta

Editorial Review

William Alwyn was born in Northampton on the 7th November 1905. He studied at the Royal Academy Of Music in London, where, at the age of 21, he was appointed Professor of Composition, a position which he held for nearly thirty years. Amongst his workds are five symphonies, concertos for flute, oboe, violin, and harp and two piano concertos, various descriptive orchestral pieces, four operas and much chamber, instrumental and vocal music.

Symphony No.4, completed in 1959, forms the epilogue to Alwyn's projected cycle of four symphonies which he had begun in 1948, and had taken him a decade to complete.

The first movement is alternately vigorous and lyric, the second is simplicity itself - muted and reflective (the bars from Lulu follow a short canonic passage for solo violin, viola and cello); and the last movement, after a brief impetuous opening, develops into a complex fugue in varying tempi. All the fugal subjects derive from material heard in the previous movements and the interval of a major 7th is a characteristic feature. The Sinfonietta, culminating in a final passionate outburst, ends peacefully and diatonically.

Contributors:

• William Alwyn
• David Lloyd-Jones

Additional Info

• Label: Naxos
• No of Discs: 1
• Recording: STEREO
• Format: Single Case

Tracklisting