Alwyn: Symphonies Nos. 2 And 5 / Harp Concerto, 'lyra Angelica'

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William Alwyn (1905-1985)Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 Lyra Angelica (Harp Concerto)William Alwyn was born in Northampton on the 7thNovember 1905. He studied at the Royal Academy ofMusic in London, where, at the age of 21, he wasappointed Professor of Composition, a position which heheld for nearly thirty years. Amongst his works are fivesymphonies, concertos for flute, oboe, violin, and harpand two piano concertos, various descriptive orchestralpieces, four operas and much chamber, instrumental andvocal music. In addition to this Alwyn contributed nearlytwo hundred scores for the cinema. He began his career inthis medium in 1936, writing music for documentaries. In1941 he wrote his first feature length score for Penn ofPennsylvania. Other notable film scores include thefollowing: Desert Victory, The Way Ahead, The TrueGlory, Odd Man Out, The History of Mr Polly, TheFallen Idol, The Rocking Horse Winner, The CrimsonPirate, The Million Pound Note, The Winslow Boy, TheCard, and A Night To Remember. In recognition of hisservices to the film medium he was made a Fellow of theBritish Film Academy, the only composer ever to havereceived this honour. His other appointments includeserving as chairman of the Composers' Guild of GreatBritain, which he had been instrumental in forming, in1949, 1950 and 1954. He was a Director of theMechanical Copyright Protection Society, a Vice-President of the Society for the Promotion of New Music(S.P.N.M.) and Director of the Performing RightsSociety. For many years he was one of the panel readingnew scores for the BBC. The conductor Sir JohnBarbirolli championed his first four symphonies and theFirst Symphony is dedicated to him.Alwyn spent the last 25 years of his life inBlythbough, Suffolk, where, in those tranquilsurroundings, he concentrated on two operas, Juan, orthe Libertine and Miss Julie. In addition to chamber andvocal music, he composed his last major orchestralworks there, the Concerto Grosso No. 3, commissionedas a tribute to Sir Henry Wood on the centenary of hisbirth in 1964 and first performed at the LondonPromenade Concerts that year by the BBC SymphonyOrchestra conducted by the composer, the Sinfoniettafor String Orchestra in 1970 and the Symphony No. 5'Hydriotaphia' during 1972-73. When not writingmusic he spent his time painting and writing poetry andan autobiography entitled Winged Chariot. He died onthe 11th September 1985 after various illnesses just twomonths before his eightieth birthday.Andrew KnowlesSymphony No. 2, the second of my cycle of foursymphonies, was in complete contrast to No. 1. Allvestige of classical form was abandoned. I conceived itin one continuous movement only broken by amomentary pause before Part II where the musicplunges into a tumultuous Allegro in contrast to thequietly ecstatic section that preceded it. The symphonyconcentrates on the development of a single main motif,accompanied by ominous triplet interjections on thetimpani, building to a huge climax which finallyresolv