William Alwyn: Movements for Piano (1961)

To understand William Alwyn’s Movements for Piano the listener needs to consider some biographical circumstances of the composer. His relationship with is first wife, Olive Pull, had become considerably strained. According to his autobiography, Winged Chariot, he owed his sanity and health to the care and devotion of his future second wife, Doreen Carwithen. He was finding life stressful in London as well, no doubt it was compounded by his marital difficulties. His doctor suggested that it was time for a change; he was advised to leave home and the capital. 

Alwyn had several works in the frame that he felt duty bound to try and finish. In 1959 he had completed his fourth symphony: this was certainly no restful piece of music. He had abandoned a Piano Concerto that he was writing due to the illness of the dedicatee, Cor de Groot. This was to have been played at the 1960 Promenade Concerts. Despite his nervous exhaustion and considerable mental strain he produced music that is “gay and bustling” - the Derby Day Overture. This was first performed at the Proms on 8th September 1960. Currently he was working on his final film score - The Running Man.

Finally, in May 1961, William Alwyn decided to set up home with Doreen Carwithen, who had been his pupil and was herself a composer. They decided to settle in the Suffolk village of Blythburgh with its attractive location near to the coast and the estuary of the River Blyth. 

Sadly, the move was not soon enough to prevent Alwyn from having his nervous breakdown. He also developed a fear of the piano. It was only through the persistence of Carwithen that he was coaxed back into playing. She encouraged him to play piano duet versions of Mozart and Haydn. Soon he was eased back into writing music. 

His reawakened passion emerged with Movements for Piano. It was completed at Blythburgh on 1 September 1961. It is long-ish, lasting some fifteen minutes and consisting of three contrasting yet strangely unified movements. It marks an enlargement of his style. This music is often disturbed and unsettled. It is quite introspective, as if Alwyn were offloading much that had been going on in his life over the past three or so years. It appears to lack light; in fact it largely consists of dark tones and shadowy hues. However it is the balance that he generates between the abstract quality of this music and the extremely romantic feel that much of it generates. There is also a balance between the serial and seemingly tonal elements of this music that give it its complex feel. 

The holograph of Movements carries the subtitle of Sonata No.2. The composer wrote on the score the following note which was latterly crossed out: “This piece is designed as a three movement work to be played as a whole, but each movement is complete in itself and can be used separately as a self-contained concert piece.” The manuscript cares the dedication “To Doreen Carwithen.”  The three movements are: Allegro appassionato, Evocation and The Devils Reel.

The Allegro appassionato is tempestuous. There is an atonal feel to the opening pages of this movement - the tune is given out simply at the beginning and is then developed. There are some percussive Bartokian chords here before the music begins to take on a fervent tone. This is certainly not neo-classical music, but full-blown romantic writing. It is only on the second or third hearing that one realises that there are some warm passages in this stormy opening movement. The central section has some quiet and quite heart easing chords. Yet the underlying tone is turbulent, there is no doubt about that. Much of this Appassionata music is almost Lisztian in sound.

Evocation is ominous and is largely composed of dappled hues and has very much a blurred feel to it. Is Alwyn trying to portray the dawn over the Blyth estuary? Or is he musically expressing the rebirth of his composing career after his nervous breakdown? Once again, the atonal feel of this movement is obvious - especially in the opening and closing sections. Alwyn has made use of a tone row here that is loosely related to that used in his great Third Symphony. Yet, he makes a subtle use of this musical tool: he never allows it to control his thought - he is master of the row. Suddenly, out of almost nowhere there is an attractive melody supported on harmony reminiscent of a Chopin Nocturne. There is often an impressionistic feel in much of this music - especially in the figurations. The music builds to a considerable climax and then subsides; there is a restatement of the original tone row - this time I think portraying moonlight on water. The movement closes quietly with a sense of peace and tranquillity tentatively established. 

The final movement, the Devils Galop, is frenetic. It is rather like a “Night ride” - but not of the Sibelian type - more of Ravel's Scarbo or Berlioz's “gibbet” music. It has rightly been compared to Robert Burns's Tam O' Shanter. Yet it is not quite so demonic as some critics have tried to make out. There are moments when optimism is on the brink of breaking out, often being repressed at the last moment. Although it is seemingly high spirited in places it is angry, aggressive and insistent. Alwyn is economical with his material in much of this movement -there is much circular figuration giving an impression of speed and swirl. There is the same darkness here that pervades the entire composition; much of this writing appears to be ambiguous. There is what appears to be the start of a peroration at the end, signifying the composer' coming through' but this dies down as the last page is reached. The work concludes with four or five aggressive chords. 

Movements for piano was premiered on 23 February 1963 on the BBC Home Service. The piano soloist was Terence Beckles.

There is no doubt that Movements is one of Alwyn’s best piano pieces, he quite clearly re-presents himself as once again being full of life and creativity. He has begun to come through the problems of the past three or so years.

Bibliography:
Alwyn, William, Winged Chariot, (Southwold Press, 1983)
Sleeve Notes to Chandos and Naxos Recordings (see below for details)
Dressler, John C. William Alwyn: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge Press, 2011)
ed. Palmer, Andrew, Composing in Words: William Alwyn on his Art (Toccata Press, 2009)
Craggs, Stewart and Poulton, Alan, William Alwyn: A Catalogue of his Music (Bravura Publications, 1985)
Wright, Adrian, The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn (The Boydell Press, 2008)

Discography:
Alwyn, William, Piano Music, Julian Milford, Chandos CHAN 9825, 2000
Alwyn, Willima, Piano Music Volume 2, Ashley Wass, NAXOS, 8.570464, 2008