Graham Whettam (1927-2007)

[albion]

The flurry of mid- to later-twentieth-century British music coming into the broadcast archive has made me curious about one figure as yet represented by only one work (the Clarinet Concerto) - Graham Whettam



Particularly intriguing are the symphonic works, with their imposing titles -

Sinfonia contra timore (1962)
Sinfonietta stravagant (1964)
Sinfonia intrepida (1976)
Sinfonia dramatica (1978)

I'm hoping that these two discs from Francis Routh's Redcliffe Records catalogue are still available -

   

Both have had good reviews on musicweb, can any members endorse these with a positive reaction?

[Alan Howe]

Now here's a composer I can enthuse about. I only have the Sinfonia Intrepida, but find it an extremely challenging, but worthwhile piece. It's on a large scale - approx. 44 minutes - and is couched in the sort of expressionist language that can sometimes be exhausting in the hands of a composer who doesn't understand the art of symphonic 'movement', but Whettam is emphatically not one of those. This is immensely powerful music, speaking of 'big things'. IMHO an absolute masterpiece - but it's not for timid souls, any more than, say, Draeseke's music was 100 years before this.

The performance is committed (what a great conductor Mackerras was), the sound full and packing a powerful punch, although there is a bit of tape hiss in evidence. A must-buy for enthusiasts of British music...

[albion]

Brilliant - thanks, Alan.

I'll try and order both discs from musicweb this evening and thereby learn their current availability!

[Dundonnell]

I can provide a recording of a broadcast of the Sinfonietta Stravagante(1964) played by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra under Hubert Soudant.

I can also provide a recording of a broadcast of the Sinfonia contra timore(1962) in a performance by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Charles Groves.

I also have a recording of the Sinfonia Intrepida of 1976 but-although I have not yet checked the recording-it would surprise me if it was not the BBC recording of the Mackerras performance issued by Redcliffe.

I do not know(let alone possess) the Sinfonia Drammatica of 1978.

There are also the Sinfonia Prometeica of 1999 and the Symphony No.5 of 2001.

I wrote this elsewhere in 2007 shortly after hearing of Whettam's death:

"I understand that the English composer Graham Whettam died a few days ago at the age of 79. Few of you may know his name because he was one of this British composers very much out of fashion from the 1960s onwards and largely ignored by the critical establishment. There are however 2 CDs that I am aware of which contain examples of his orchestral music-both on the Redcliffe Recordings label(may be tricky to obtain!). The first CD contains his big Sinfonia Intrepida(the 2nd symphony) in a BBC studio recording by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras no less. The second CD has his Sinfonia contra timore(his 1st symphony) performed by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gunter Blumhagen in a 1975 radio recording and the Concerto Drammatico for cello and orchestra with Martin Rummel as soloist and the Sinfonia da Camara, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois under Ian Hobson.

There are good reviews of both CDs to be found on the net. These reviews make appropriate comparisons with the music of Shostakovich and Robert Simpson. The symphonies are grim, granitic and angry works but the Sinfonia Intrepida in particular I found most impressive. Whettam was a bit of an 'outsider'. He certainly resented the neglect from which he suffered and established his own publishing company(Meriden Music). He was passionately anti-war and dedicated the Sinfonia contra timore to Bertrand Russell, the eminent philosopher and supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. This, apparently, led to the cancellation of the work's planned premiere in Liverpool and to the BBC banning performances!"

[albion]

Thanks for all this extra information, Colin. I've duly ordered the Redcliffe discs and we'll see if supply follows demand.



Certainly your broadcasts of the Sinfonietta Stravagante and an alternative Sinfonia contra timore would be very welcome!

[albion]

Good news! I've just received a confirmation email from Len Mullenger - Redcliffe will send the discs in the next couple of days.

These are only £11.00 post free if bought from musicweb ...

http://www.musicweb-international.com/Redcliffe/Redcliffe_Recordings.htm

Interested members might like to support this enterprising label.

[albion]

Graham Whettam really has been one of the best of my recent discoveries, along with David Morgan (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1876.0.html), both composers with a clear message and the technical prowess to articulate it powerfully.

If members don't have time to acquaint themselves with anything else, I would strongly recommend lending an ear both to Whettam's Sinfonia Intrepida (on Redcliffe) and Morgan's Sinfonia da Requiem (BMB).

There is no easy listening in either piece, but both speak powerfully of major issues and events, the former commemorating the destruction of Warsaw, Rotterdam and Dresden in World War II and the latter commenting on the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia: real evidence of deeply-felt, deeply-considered and moving artistic interaction with the big themes of the day. Both works deserve (IMHO) as wide a currency as Britten's War Requiem or (though the composer would not acknowledge any extra-musical intent) Vaughan Williams' Symphonies 3, 4 and 6.

[Dundonnell]

Well said