Beneath the Surface #5 – Alwyn and Carwithen: Piano music

Composers: William Alwyn (English, 1905-1985); Doreen Carwithen (English, 1922-2003)

Works: Alwyn: Fantasy Waltzes (1955), Sonata alla Toccata (1946), Funeral Rites for the Death of an Artist, The Weather Vane (both 1931); Carwithen: Sonatina (1946)

Performers: Mark Bebbington (piano)

Label: Somm Recordings

Background and Critical Reception

William Alwyn is an almost exact contemporary of that other great British William composer, Walton, who enjoyed considerable success with public and royalty alike. Alwyn was not so prominent. He lived close to Benjamin Britten on the Suffolk coast, but his music did not reflect his surroundings in the same, vivid way.

Yet Alwyn was a successful composer of over 300 works, using many of the standard classical disciplines. His output includes over 70 scores for films such as The Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The History of Mr Polly and The Magic Box. There are five symphonies, recorded by both Richard Hickox for Chandos and David Lloyd Jones for Naxos, a large orchestral and chamber music output, and over 100 piano works – of which six are heard on this disc.

As the pianist Mark Bebbington has discovered over the last decade or so, there is a vast amount of British music for the instrument that does not regularly see the light of day. He has undertaken a recording odyssey for the Somm label that has carried him through the slightly better known piano outputs of John Ireland and Frank Bridge, but has also unearthed rarities from composers such as Reginald King and William Matthias.

The piano music of Alwyn probably sits midway between those two extremes. The great John Ogdon performed the Fantasy Waltzes, recording them for Chandos in 1984 – and these make up the backbone of Bebbington's new disc, complemented with the smaller scale Sonata alla Toccata and four world premiere recordings, including the mini suite for children The Weather Vane.

Also included is a work by Mrs Alwyn – the composer Doreen Carwithen, who lived until as recently as 2003. Because she was so supportive of her husband's music, Carwithen did not publish much of her own, but she did write a Piano Concerto, the Suffolk Suite for orchestra and some appealing chamber works. Like Alwyn, she also wrote for film, mostly scoring smaller documentaries. Her Sonatina is heard here for the first time.


Thoughts

I found this disc appealing for both foreground and background listening, but if listening closely it tends to work better divided in half.

The Fantasy Waltzes work best on their own, being a substantial work of eleven pieces, some of which are as long as five minutes. They have melodic ideas aplenty, and Bebbington plays them with a combination of verve and intimacy.

On occasion the music can be a little dry in its harmonic language, but Alwyn largely approaches the challenge of writing in 3/4 in a number of imaginative ways, leaning a little on the music of Debussy and Ravel for inspiration. I enjoyed the subtle homage to the former composer found in the first and seventh waltzes in particular, but for me the pick of the pieces is the sixth, marked Allegro giocoso, its distinctive and sharply dotted theme played with a flourish by Bebbington, but with a contrasting central section of greater tenderness. The ninth waltz, marked Lento e lugubre, is darker, with an emphatic finish, while the second, a brief and charming piece, is notable for its twinkling right hand theme.

The piece I personally enjoyed the most was the shorter scale, ten-minute Sonata alla Toccata. The central Andante is utterly charming, its soft centre established by a really nice, restful chord on which a lot of the phrases land. The outer movements are bold and on a grand scale, the first movement firmly installed in C major with a brisk, invigorating theme, and the third a similarly inspiring call to arms.

The premiere recordings show how Alwyn could work just as well on a smaller scale, his miniature picture painting recalling the piano music of John Ireland. These are brief but intimate portraits, and those in The Weather Vane have an appealing, youthful charm. The Funeral Rites for the Death of an Artist are much heavier emotionally – the artist is unknown – while the short Bicycle Ride is a witty piece.

It is a nice touch to include music by Doreen Carwithen, and having heard the Sonatina I would certainly like to hear more. It is a very well proportioned piece that once again has the slow second movement as its emotional centre, with some beautifully wistful and dreamy music that Bebbington gets right to the heart of. Hers is an interesting musical personality, with a more open sound in the faster music than her husband perhaps, and an easy charm too.

Verdict

This is an attractive disc, suitable for later night listening and with moments of genuine inspiration. One or two of the Fantasy Waltzes were a little dry for me, but they are by and large a tuneful and invigorating set – while the shorter pieces have charm and wit aplenty.

Mark Bebbington and the Somm Recordings founder Siva Oke deserve great credit for their efforts to bring this and other British piano music in from the cold – and discs such as this prove they are absolutely right to do so.

Further listening

Bebbington's disc is not yet on Spotify, but this Mr and Mrs Alwyn playlist offers versions from the pianist Ashley Wass of the Fantasy Waltzes and the Sonata alla Toccata. I would also strongly recommend the single movement Piano Concerto no.1, an energetic and inventive piece, while the Violin Concerto is a much more sizeable and imposing achievement. Also included are some examples of the film music, and the short, neo-classical Concerto Grosso no.2. Carwithen's music can also be heard here, with the Piano Concerto and short but evocative Suffolk Suite included.