In 1956, around the
same time as William Alwyn was composing his great Third Symphony, the
composer was at work on the Fantasy-Waltzes for piano: at least
various ideas were beginning to gestate in his mind. This was the first piano
work to be composed since the Five by Ten miniatures in 1952.
Fantasy-Waltzes was inspired by a visit to Edvard Grieg's lakeside home at Trolhaugen,
near Bergen. It was originally to have been a few 'salon' pieces composed to
prove that it was still possible to write music that was approachable,
enjoyable and fun to play. Unusually for William Alwyn at this time, they are
not based on a series or tone row but were written in a free virtuosic style.
They were composed especially
for the New Zealand pianist Richard Farrell, who gave their first complete performance
at Broadcasting House on 2ndJune 1957. He had already played several
of the individual waltzes in New Zealand. Tragically, Farrell was to die
tragically in a road accident the following year.
The Fantasy-Waltzes
is divided into two discrete parts: waltzes one to six and seven to eleven. There
is no single thematic basis to the whole work. True, there are references in
the last bars of some of these waltzes to the following one. What Alwyn does is
to take the form and rhythms of various kinds of waltzes and apply his own
invention to them. It is not his intention to generate a stylistic unity - in
fact the whole work is predicated on a constant creation of diverse material
with only a few cross-references. It can be equated to the transcriptions of
Franz Liszt - basic material is taken and then reworked in the composer's
image. For example, the final waltz is reminiscent of a style once popular with
amateur pianists - yet it is worked up into something that is quite definitely
the composer's own.
William Alwyn uses a
wide variety of styles: he takes them up and throws the away. There are
allusions and references to Ravel, Rachmaninov, Chopin and Johann Strauss.
However, there are no actual quotes: the work is not pastiche It is very
difficult to isolate styles and allusions and that was not the intention of the
composer.
Much of this music is
romantic - although here and there are nods to the composer’s earlier
neo-classical style. Above all, these Waltzes are fun: the composer is clearly
enjoying himself and has produced a minor masterpiece that is well-written and
enjoyable to hear and to play.
The opening waltz is
straightforward - it is written in good old-fashioned ternary form: it sounds a
little like Ravel. No.2 is a humorous piece, typically played ‘scherzando’ with
variety and contrast provided by a good cantabile melody. The third waltz, a
'moderato,' is a straightforward ‘salon’ piece. It was apparently the first section
of this work that Alwyn composed: it was the basis of the entire set. Bearing
in mind the inspiration of this work, there are allusions in style, if not in
content, to Grieg himself. It is ideally placed third as it acts as a foil to
the relative sophistication of the first two waltzes. The fourth number is a
lovely 'grazioso,' well-written and again in the 'light' music vein. Waltz No.
5, ‘lento’ is a complex piece - at least harmonically. It pushes the concept of
a piano waltz to its limit. The last piece, ‘allegro giocoso’ in the first
section is a foil to the previous one. It is much lighter in style and is
reminiscent of the kind of music that was popular in the early years of the
twentieth century.
The first waltz of
the second half of this work has been compared to Debussy. This is more to do
with the tones and sonorities produced on the keyboard rather than any
reference to specific works by the French master. This ‘lento’ is a profound uttering
that needs the context of the surrounding numbers to allow it to be
appreciated.
I feel that the Waltz
No. 8, ‘vivace ma ritmico’ is the most attractive of the entire set. It has
been likened to a Viennese waltz seen through the ‘transcriptive’ eyes of
Sergei Rachmaninov.
The ninth piece is a
touch unbalanced. It opens with a vague, meandering feel and then proceeds into
a 'middle eight' of plunging romanticism. This music is highly charged and very
passionate, only to collapse once more into a reprise of the hazy opening
music.
After the romantic
stress and strain of the previous waltz it is refreshing to be presented with
what is ostensibly another enjoyable salon piece played in ‘tempo piacevole.’
The whole work
concludes with a wonderful finale that is full of style and pizzazz. The ‘presto’
is really the only movement here that could be construed as pastiche. It is
supposedly like the kind of waltz that was popular with the French publishing
house of Durand. However, it is a great way to finish and leaves an impression
of a highly enjoyable work, quite out of sympathy with much that was happening
musically in the late nineteen fifties.
There are currently five
versions of William Alwyn’s Fantasy Waltzes available. Sheila Randell on Lyrita
SRCD 293, Ashley Wass on Naxos 8.570359, Mark Bebbington on Somm 133, Julian
Milford on Chandos CHAN 9825 and John Ogdon also on Chandos CHAN 8399. Several
of these waltzes have been uploaded to YouTube.
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this
piece was first published in 2002. I have made several minor edits.
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