NEW CLASSICS (joint review of vols 1,2, and 3):
John R. Williamson was born in 1929 in Manchester and studied composition under Richard Hall and piano with Hedwig Stein at the Royal Manchester College of Music. He also studied briefly with Lennox Berkeley and has himself taught music in a variety of schools and colleges in England and Wales. Compositions include five piano concerti, an extensive amount of solo piano music, twenty five sonatas for many combinations, chamber music, orchestral pieces, a symphony and a cello concerto. His unique style, which he describes as ‘palindromic', makes frequent use of pentatonic and palindromic harmonic and melodic idioms. He has a special affinity with English songs and has written more than 140, about 90 of them being settings of A E Housman poems.

olumes One and Two of Williamson's Piano Music were originally released on the Dunelm label, but their release now on Divine Art makes them generally available for the first time. Volume Three has not been issued previously. In these recordings, pianist Murray McLachlan - Head of Keyboard Studies at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester - gives eloquently persuasive performances of Williamson's unusual and finely crafted works, including three sonatas and a series of preludes.
John Pitts

FANFARE (joint review of volumes 1,2 and 3):
Pianist Murray McLachlan has been a stalwart champion of new British music for some time now. One only needs to think of his fascinating recording of the music of Eric Chisholm, for example (which I reviewed in Fanfare 32:6 and 33:2). Here he takes on the cause of John Ramsden Williamson.

The first music we hear is the 12 New Preludes of 1993 (apparently composed in a single day, Nov. 2). Each is based on a key center, rising from C to B. There is some powerful expression at work here. The ninth piece, “Lament for Laddie,” is particularly effective (a note tells us that this was written on the death of a precious dog) and is also at 4:11, the longest of the set. McLachlan despatches the more virtuoso preludes (No. 10 in A, for example) with aplomb, but he seems most inspired in the slow, more beautiful numbers (No. 11 being a case in point). These preludes are balanced by the Palindromic Preludes of some three years later. The movements include a touching “Carol (Lullaby for the Baby Jesus),” and a movement simply titled “Madness,” which does, indeed, via much use of tremolo, sound decidedly disturbed. The Palindromic Preludes is more wide-ranging than the earlier set and so is perfectly balanced by the simple Second Piano Sonatina of 1990.

The Piano Sonata No. 2 of 1991 is clearly a carefully considered work. McLachlan is able to convey a clear sense of direction throughout the opening, noble Maestoso. Lasting some 20 minutes, it explores a wide range of territory. The nostalgia of the second movement is balanced by an active Alla scherzo. The Forth Sonata (1998) appears on Vol. 2, after another set of Palindromic Preludes (Set 5, lasting some 27:49). This set is more substantial musically, also McLachlan manages to project the sense of exploration here. The Fourth Sonata continues the composer's fascination with the palindrome. It contains some memorable writing, particularly in the more lyrical sections. The longest and most substantial movement is the second, a Pastorale of hypnotic beauty, and McLachlan does the piece full justice.

The set of Seven Interval Studies (2001) is directly influenced by Debussy's études. Williamson alternates moods and, again palindrome is in evidence. McLachlan gave the world premiere of this piece at Chethams School of Music, Manchester, in August 2002. Interesting to note that the final piece on this volume, the Lament for Sarah , is an extract from a work for solo harp. Heard as a piano solo, its remit is to appear as a reflection of the composer's own sadness subsequent to the loss of a granddaughter, aged seven, in 1998. It is a thought-provoking way to end the second disc.

The third and final volume of piano music begins with 12 extracts from 19 sets of Palindromic Preludes (each of which contains 12 preludes). The sequence is evidently carefully considered, and McLachlan reacts to the varied moods like a pianist chameleon. McLachlan's clean attack is particularly evident in the third extract, an “Hommage to Chopin.” The jagged nature of the first movement of the Sixth Piano Sonata (2004) speaks of a seriousness of intent that is to carry on into the slow movement and beyond. Even the Scherzo is determined and stubborn rather than overtly playful. The third volume seems to concentrate more on larger pieces than its predecessors. In the 13 Variations on a Tone Row of 2007, as the composer puts it, “new horizons are explored” and indeed, there is a searching element readily audible in the musical flow. The final set of Seven Two-Part Inventions (2008) is this volume's sign-off piece, and its lightest. There is a Bachian purity at times here that is most beguiling.

The recording quality throughout is a little lacking in depth. Although the bass register is not weak, the piano has limited presence. Nevertheless, those tempted to explore Williamson's music will not be disappointed. It is worth pointing out that sound samples of these discs can be found on the Divine Art Web site.
Colin Clarke

PIANIST (joint review of ddv24143-5):
The chance to work with a living composer must have influenced Murray McLachlan to the utmost in his newest recording. John R. Williamson, a Mancunian composer now in his 80 th year, hovered over McLachlan's recording sessions of his music. (Makes me wonder what it would be like to have Beethoven's grumpy face staring at you while you struggle with his music.) McLachlan, who has waded through oceans of notes in his life, was undoubtedly beaming in the presence of the composer, at least if we are to judge from his smiley photo on the back of the booklet notes. But will the listener be entertained by the actual music on this disc?

Nobody can fault the musical brilliance of the performances, executed in a lively acoustic on a fine-sounding Steinway. If you sense that a reluctant recommendation is on its way, it is simply down to the fact the Williamson's pentatonic and often slightly repetitive music lacks the melodic inventiveness and progressive originality of other contemporary composers. Williamson is best in his shorter pieces, such as his sets of Palindronic Studies in which a small idea is often transformed into surprisingly fine-shaped patterns. I find his piano sonatas of lesser interest, however his mastery of the sonata form is unquestioned. The first three volumes in this series contain around a third of his piano compositions to date, and the adventurous listener should not hesitate to grab them with the hope of many more volumes to follow.
Marius Dawn (Pianist Recommended Recording)

MUSICWEB: (joint review of volumes 1,2 and 3)
Here is a remarkable trio of CDs - only available separately - featuring the piano music of John R. Williamson. The first two volumes were first issued on the Dunelm label in 2001 and 2003 whilst the third volume was recorded for Diversions (part of Divine Art) in 2009. John R. Williamson was born in Manchester in 1929 but for some time has lived in North Wales.

An original composer might be said to be one whose style is unmistakable and who has long assimilated his earlier models. I believe this to be true of Williamson's music and there is ample demonstration of this on these three well-filled discs. He has forged a style that convincingly fuses disparate elements into an organic whole. His harmonies are dissonant in that they involve suggestions of bitonality but would be more properly described as rising from symmetrical inversion, called by the composer, palindromic. Textures and harmonies seem to result from the clash of palindromic writing both in the horizontal and vertical planes. This might sound over-technical, yet it is worth mentioning since the clarity of the language allows the listener to perceive how the music is structured as it proceeds, in other words, not just from subsequent analysis. This is a remarkable feat; many works hide their structures, Williamson announces his with bold statements and clear harmonic designs.

Lest the prospective listener be fooled into thinking that Williamson's music occupies a rather arid plain, it should be stated at once that the lyrical impulse is very strong and the emotional world is often intense and heartfelt. Indeed much of Williamson's power as a composer derives from a combination of the palindromic or symmetrical aspects and a predilection for plaintive modal melodies. Time and again in these discs the listener is carried along by sweeps of modal contours that are enlivened and even subverted by the churning harmonies that pass through them. The effect is heightened by the frequent shifting of the modes used for the melodies. A remarkably hypnotic result is achieved, as if Cecil Sharp had met Bernhard Ziehn in some dim forgotten pastoral landscape. In a previous review of a CD of Williamson songs (Dunelm Records DRD0265) I remarked on some of the above characteristics. The main difference on these three discs is that, freed from accompanimental duties, the piano soars into a multitude of figurations and patterns that befit a more flamboyant solo approach. The piano writing is often highly virtuosic yet the difficulties arise not from a desire for showmanship; they come about due to the demands of the music's structure, logic and emotional affects. Williamson has written many sets of relatively short pieces in which an emotional landscape is set up by the gestures and shapes; a clue to each affect is revealed in the movement headings which are often descriptive of mood. They appear in English: funereal, martial, flamboyant, ruminative, agonising . I am reminded of Scriabin's indications in his many short piano pieces. That the two composers share this trait and share a seeming obsession with their respective harmonic devices is a point of interest in itself. Of other British composers it is hard to find many points of reference with regard to Williamson. Cyril Scott, whose greatest music is at last being heard, was a pioneer in the use of quartal harmonies, but his free approach is less systematic than that adopted by Williamson. Vaughan Williams blended modal melodies - whether folk tunes or his own - with remarkably original harmonies often featuring parallel triads. Ronald Stevenson has made a study of Ziehn's Canonic Studies, led there by the example of Busoni. Williamson's music does not sound like any of these composers; he has his own voice even if he shares some technical approaches with them.

After much enjoyable listening I have picked out some of my favourite pieces on these discs, grouped by volume.