William Mathias (1934 - 92)

[edashtav]

I can't say I've ever been keen on WM's work, but he was the first composer I actually saw in person. He must have been about 40 at the time but looked (I thought) a lot older and more like a schoolteacher than an artist of any kind.

Oh dear, Richard Barrett!

I can't say I've ever been keen on Derek Bourgeois's work, but he was the first composer I actually saw in person. He must have been about 19 at the time but looked (I thought) a lot younger and more like a schoolboy than an artist of any kind. I supposed that he came from good, Bourgeoisie stock!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

He must have been about 40 at the time but looked (I thought) a lot older and more like a schoolteacher than an artist of any kind.

Rene Magritte?

"A schoolteacher"? This one, perhaps:

[Richard Barrett]

"A schoolteacher"? This one, perhaps

I don't know who that is, and I should stress I have nothing against schoolteachers (with a few exceptions - you know who you are (if you're still alive)), but WM's suit and glasses were exactly what many of my (male) teachers at school were wearing in that period and previously.

[EdgeleyRob]

Indeed: I wonder what Dylan Thomas would have had to say about that!

I see that the third symphony is up for broadcast in Friday's programme, so looking forward to that. Pity we're not going to hear anything from the string quartets, eg (?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76enrQQDfXE

Yes I think the SQs are the best of Mathias,strange that the programmes do not include an excerpt.
His best Symphony,IMVHO,is his 2nd (Summer Music).

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh dear, Richard Barrett!

I can't say I've ever been keen on Derek Bourgeois's work, but he was the first composer I actually saw in person. He must have been about 19 at the time but looked (I thought) a lot younger and more like a schoolboy than an artist of any kind. I supposed that he came from good, Bourgeoisie stock!

DB went to the same public school as me. He was a house prefect, possibly the house captain, and left at the end of my first term. A couple of years later the school music master had us all in to hear a recording of his first symphony, remarking that it was a good piece of work for one so young, but full of Walton influences. He then went on to say he was now going to put on something really modern: Debussy's La mer!!!

I had an opportunity to converse with DB in the early 1970s, when he was a prof at Bristol University. I can remember him opining that the 12-tone route was not for him, though he commented complimentarily on Bernstein's use of a 12-tone series as the basis for the "Cool fugue" in West Side Story. I would never have known about it had he not drawn my attention to it.

[Beef Oven!]

Yes I think the SQs are the best of Mathias,strange that the programmes do not include an excerpt.
His best Symphony,IMVHO,is his 2nd (Summer Music).

Don't know the SQs. Any recommendations?

On another matter, really struggling with Weinberg.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't know who that is

Doug McAvoy - former leader of the NUT. The resemblance was more noticeable in the flesh in the early '80s. (Later in the decade, there was more "flesh" to be "noticeable in" with Mr McAvoy!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Don't know the SQs. Any recommendations?

AFAIK, this is the only recording of the three works - very good performances, well recorded, and not expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathias-String-Quartets-Nos-1-3/dp/B0012IXOFC

[EdgeleyRob]

AFAIK, this is the only recording of the three works - very good performances, well recorded, and not expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathias-Str.../dp/B0012IXOFC

[Beef Oven!]

AFAIK, this is the only recording of the three works - very good performances, well recorded, and not expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathias-Str.../dp/B0012IXOFC

Thanks. Bought.

[EdgeleyRob]

Don't know the SQs. Any recommendations?

On another matter, really struggling with Weinberg.

That surprises me Beefster,apart from the SQs and Symphonies I can only think maybe try the Cello Concerto,Piano Quintet and Piano Sonatas.

[Beef Oven!]

[/B]That surprises me Beefster,apart from the SQs and Symphonies I can only think maybe try the Cello Concerto,Piano Quintet and Piano Sonatas.

I'm surprised too! It's mainly with the symphonies that I struggle. The quartets are very good, but there are a lot of good SQs out there! 5nt is excellent, and I look forward to getting hold of the 5nt arranged for strings and percussion.

I really want to avoid mentioning DSCH, it's so banal, but ........ do I need Weinberg?

P.S. The violin sonatas are very engaging. I downloaded the complete set from Qobuz (Naxos versions).

P.P.S. I need to check out the piano sonatas.

[EdgeleyRob]

I've posted a link to the 4th piano Sonata on the Weinberg thread.
I wonder if a kind host could move the last cuppla posts to the appropriate thread,I feel as though we're doing Bill Mathias a disservice.

[Tony Halstead]

I'm surprised too! It's mainly with the symphonies that I struggle. The quartets are very good, but there are a lot of good SQs out there! 5nt is excellent, and I look forward to getting hold of the 5nt arranged for strings and percussion.

I really want to avoid mentioning DSCH, it's so banal, but ........ do I need Weinberg?

P.S. The violin sonatas are very engaging. I downloaded the complete set from Qobuz (Naxos versions).

P.P.S. I need to check out the piano sonatas.

You might want to also check out the ORGAN MUSIC, in particular WM's 2 masterpieces ( IMHO) which are
the 'Variations on a Hymn Tune' ( 1962) and the 'Partita' ( not sure of the date).
I used to try to play these superb works ( no Messaien influences!) in recitals when I was in my teens and early twenties. I suppose the greatest influence on the Hymn Tune Variations is Hindemith, but WM is more flexible and more romantic.
In the 'Partita' he is definitely in his 'own voice' and less Hindemithian, but maybe with a 'nod or two' to Bartok in the lovely 2nd movement.
I didn't hear the broadcast but maybe the 'forumista' who thought he was hearing 'early Messaien' heard WM's 'Invocations'?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You might want to also check out the ORGAN MUSIC, in particular WM's 2 masterpieces ( IMHO) which are
the 'Variations on a Hymn Tune' ( 1962) and the 'Partita' ( not sure of the date).
I used to try to play these superb works ( no Messaien influences!) in recitals when I was in my teens and early twenties. I suppose the greatest influence on the Hymn Tune Variations is Hindemith, but WM is more flexible and more romantic.
In the 'Partita' he is definitely in his 'own voice' and less Hindemithian, but maybe with a 'nod or two' to Bartok in the lovely 2nd movement.
I didn't hear the broadcast but maybe the 'forumista' who thought he was hearing 'early Messaien' heard WM's 'Invocations'?

I think the conversation shifted from WM onto Weinberg, Tony. (Incidentally - am I right in "remembering" that it was you who started a Thread on Mathias's Symphonies eighteen months or so ago?)