Limelight

Prolific and often controversial composer Malcolm Williamson, the first Australian Master of the Queen’s Music (and the only appointee not to be knighted!), has dropped into near-oblivion since he died in 2003 – something that London-based Victorian pianist Antony Gray hopes to ameliorate with the release of this beautifully performed anthology.

Gray plays on most of the tracks – alongside crack performers from St Paul’s Sinfonia the New London Chamber Ensemble – and has written liner notes on his friend’s complex personality.

Impish and attention-getting sound grabs of music for a 1966 TV project punctuate the collection, lending a sense of cohesion, just as the recurring Promenade interludes do in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. We get a terrific Pas de quatre for wind quartet and piano, worthy of Poulenc; a trio for clarinet, cello and piano; some solo pieces, and a substantial and strikingly good Concerto for Wind Quintet and Two Pianos.

At its heart, and worth the price alone, is the moving Pieta, set to verses by Pär Lagerkvist and superbly sung by Swedish soprano Sally Lundgren, with Gray on piano and the atmospheric combination of oboe and bassoon.

There are many lovely moments in this always interesting, chameleon-like collection. What comes across is the exceptional quality and musicality of Williamson’s diverse material. He defined it best himself. “Most of my music is Australian,” he said. “Not the bush or the deserts, but the brashness of the cities. The sort of brashness that makes Australians go through life pushing doors marked pull.”

—Steve Moffatt