Message #19133

[Dundonnell]

I completely agree with you, John :)

Williamson was a strange choice for Master of the Queen's Music when Arthur Bliss died in 1975. We know the famous comment by William Walton: "They picked the wrong Malcolm!!" As you say however, both Malcolms had a tragic self-destructive streak and Malcolm Arnold would have been a more obvious but, probably, less appropriate choice-given his decline in the 1980s.

It is sad that so many of Malcolm Williamson's music is still unavailable (or, indeed, unheard); I am not aware that the Symphony No.4 "Jubilee"-another Royal commission has ever been played ::) The rapid termination of the "Malcolm Williamson Series" by Chandos (as so too the abortion of their Richard Rodney Bennett Series), after only 2 cd releases does that company no favours :(

Williamson's music is uneven. He was not immune to being influenced by some rather offbeat notions in the 70s and 80s. We are fortunate to have quite a few compositions available in our Archive and I was rather impressed by the recent addition (via You Tube) of the Josip Broz Tito Tribute. I suppose also that Williamson is one of these composers who falls between two national stools: is he a British composer because he was domiiciled in the UK for most of his adult life (like Arthur Benjamin) or do we regard him as an Australian ??? Australia seems to have largely forgotten his existence.