Grace Williams (1906–1977) is widely considered to be Wales’ foremost female composer, but the fact that all of the songs on this new album are heard in their world premiere recordings indicates that her vocal music has been largely neglected. Her name is generally more associated with orchestral and instrumental music, this despite a body of choral and vocal work which her biographer Malcolm Boyd credited with being ‘of the highest quality and originality.’
Grace WILLIAMS (1906–1977)
Songs
Y Deryn Pur • Lights Out • Cariad Cyntaf
Jeremy Huw Williams, Baritone • Wendy Hiscocks, PianoGrace Williams’ lifelong interest in vocal writing no doubt owed something to her upbringing in Wales. The original works heard here in their premiere recordings span the entirety of her career, ranging from her earliest surviving composition in any genre to 1967’s Fear no more the heat o’ the sun. Williams’ folk song arrangements were often commissions for BBC children’s programmes, and while her craftsmanship is evident irrespective of the song’s country of origin, her stylistic fingerprints are most firmly placed on her understated setting of the beautiful Welsh love song, Cariad Cyntaf.
Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams made his debut with Welsh National Opera as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and has since appeared in more than 70 operatic roles. He has performed at major venues in North and South America, Australia, China, India and most European countries. He has given recitals at London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, and at many major music festivals. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Glyndŵr University in 2009 for services to music in Wales and the Medal of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Wendy Hiscocks is an Australian-born composer-pianist based in the UK. Her music has been performed, broadcast and recorded by prominent artists, choirs and ensembles worldwide, including Piers Lane, Michael Collins, Elizabeth Connell, Jesus College Choir and the Schubert Ensemble. Venues have included the Aldeburgh and Amadeus festivals and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, with broadcasts on Radio France, ABC Radio and TV, and BBC Radio 3. As a pianist, she has performed widely, from London’s Purcell Room to Japan's Kusatsu International Summer Academy and Festival.
Choral Music
A May Magnificat • Learsongs • Riddles
St John’s Voices
The Gentlemen of St John’s
Walker
– The Arts Desk
Chamber Music
Violin Sonata • Sextet • Suite for Nine Instruments
Mitchell
London Chamber Ensemble
– Gramophone
Violin Sonatas
Trickey • Llewelyn-Jones
– MusicWeb International
Landscapes
Song Cycles and Folksongs
Booth • Spence • Williams • Matthews-Owen • Pollock
– MusicWeb International