Grace Williams: Violin Concerto, Elegy for String Orchestra & Sinfonia concertante for Piano & Orchestra

Violinist Geneva Lewis and pianist Clare Hammond are soloists join the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for another released this calendar year celebrating the music of Grace Williams. The Welsh composer held herself and her art to the highest standards, withdrawing and destroying scores which failed to live up to her ideals. Her Violin Concerto was only performed a few …

Breaking Waves

This album comprises three works by three composers of three different nationalities performed by Finland’s Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra led by artistic director Malin Broman (who is also an accomplished violinist). The Sea Sketches by Welsh composer Grace Williams opens the program, inspired by the beaches of Glamorganshire and by its seascape. Grażyna Bacewicz’s Fourth String Quartet is played here in …

Grace Williams: Orchestral Works

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra centers a 20th century Welsh composer whose distinctive voice was influenced by both Vaughan Williams and the Second Viennese School. Four of Grace Williams’s orchestral gems, spanning three decades of her illustrious career, are performed on this program conducted by John Andrews. Four Illustrations of the Legend of Rhiannon (1939) is a suite that brings the …