Graham Whettam

[gabriel]

I am not a regular part of the forums due to a certain slowness in expressing my opinions in English, although I read with interest the valuable contributions of the participants.
I included the reference to Graham Whettam in the Daniel Jones thread because there were several allusions to other composers: Eugene Goossens, William Mathias, Stanley Bate, Morfydd Owen, Roger Sacheverell Coke, Joseph Holbrooke, Havergal Brian, Grace Williams, Bernard Van Dieren, David Matthews, CV Stanford, Arnold Bax, William Alwyn, Malcolm Arnold, John Gardner, Peter Maxwell Davies and many others (including non-English like Raff and Atterberg)

I must confess that Jonah's response in a certain sense paralyzed me, and I didn't even feel like republishing my contribution in a new thread. However, I can even understand Jonah's attitude from the perspective of his enthusiasm for a composer who well deserves it.
Greg K's last message seemed wonderful to me in his understanding of the creative act and the fluidity of the exchanges. Paradoxically, perhaps it is a good preamble to the issue raised in my message about repression, freedom and discrimination. (Please, it´s only a joke!!)
I hope my English has been acceptable. Here is my former message, in the right place:

I don't know if you agree with me, but I really like Graham Whettam, from whom I just heard an old radio version of his Sinfonia Dramatica on YouTube.
It is surprising that Dutton and some other companies are recording works of lesser interest from other composers, and there are no new versions of his neglected works (I am not, of course, unaware of the two wonderful Redcliffe albums, whose recordings are four decades old, or more).
I wonder if this "discrimination" - like the one Alan Bush once suffered - does not respond to ideological reasons. Which, if true, would disappoint me greatly about England.

[relm1]

I'm a huge fan of Graham Whettam's music.  Thanks for creating this thread.

[jonah]

Thanks for opening this new thread.

I would suggest that, if not done already, anyone interested in Whettam's orchestral music check the British and Irish Music Archive and Catalogue in this site's Downloads section, where there are a number of recordings of his works, such as the Clarinet Concerto, Sinfonia Concertante, Sinfonia contra timore, Sinfonia Drammatica, Sinfonietta Stravagante and his withdrawn Symphony 1.

The Archive is a good place to get to know his orchestral work (and, of course, plenty of other British and Irish composers), since few record companies seem interested, and there is little chance of hearing his music in concert, with or without Covid-19.

[Albion]

check the British and Irish Music Archive and Catalogue in this site's Downloads section

As the creator and curator of this particular archive, may I express my approval and encouragement of cross-thematic posting...

 ;)