Malcolm Williamson - Overture 'Santiago de Espada' • Elevamini, Symphony No. 1 • Sinfonia Concertante • Piano Sonata No. 2

Martin Jones, piano (Sinfonia Concertante)
Malcolm Williamson, piano (Sonata)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Charles Groves, conductor

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.281
UPC/EAN: 5020926028129
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: ADD
Number of discs: 1
Total playing time: 72.43
Price: £ 14.99 (+ postage & packing)

Tracks 1 - 7: Recorded at Liverpool, June 1976
Tracks 8 - 10: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, September 1971, Producer: James Burnett, Engineer: Stanley Goodall

Though Malcolm Williamson lived in London for fifty years, many of the titles and first performance venues of his works confirm that he was at heart an Australian: as well as his pieces for Australian Bicentennial Year, 1988, his last two symphonies are both rooted in Australian culture. In 1965, he spoke about his nationality at the Conference on Music and Education in the Commonwealth held at the University of Liverpool, "... when I think about it I am certain that my music is characteristically Australian although I have never tried to make it so. We Australians have to offer the world a persona compounded of forcefulness, brashness, a direct warmth of approach, sincerity which is not ashamed, and more of what the Americans call 'get-up-and-go' than the Americans themselves possess." Indeed, the vigorous ebullience and emotional candour of his writing sets him apart from most other composers active in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century.