THE GRAMOPHONE:
Graham Whettam is another composer (b1927) of my own generation whose music has been eclipsed and allowed to be all but forgotten in an era of avant-garde ugliness and atonal meandering. He is given only an eighth of a page in the New Grove, although to be fair Hugo Cole writes enthusiastically about the “exuberant vitality” of his orchestra music. One could say the same of his piano music, where the composer develops his ideas in a very individual way.

Fantsy for piano duet (1956) is the earliest work here and, adopted from a piece for flute, oboe and piano, is immediately arresting; but it is the Prelude, Scherzo and Elegy (1964) which sets the pattern for these works with its opening Prelude, first mysteriously evocative then toccata-like, leading to a boldly assertive, irregularly rhythmic Scherzo, and finally returning to the gently elegiac mood of the opening. Prelude and Scherzo impetuoso (commissioned for the 1967 Cheltenham Festival) is a finer work in a similar style but more succinct, full of glitter and rumbustious rhythmic drama. This led to the commissioning the following year of the major work here, the four-movement Night Music Sonata, which exploit’s the piano’s fullest range fro a slow mysterious Fantasia, decorated with arabesques, leading to a Notturno lunare. The central Scherzo frenetico was inspired by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, with the Dies Irae parodied at the climax.

Ballade hebraïque is the most recent composition (1981), performed here in an arrangement specially prepared by the composer for these performers. All in all an impressive and rewarding collection given exceptionally vivid recording in a warm acoustic.
Ivan March

MUSICWEB:
Graham Whettam is one of Britain’s elder statesmen of music, whose larger-scale work flourished in the 1950s and 1960s with a number of symphonies. The Dance Concertante for piano duo Cyril Smith and Phyllis Sellick, was performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the opening concert of the 1959 Proms. I have to admit that, as a listener at least, Graham Whettam is a new name to me, so as always I looked forward to freshening my ears to a new musical voice.

Night Music was requested for the 1968 Cheltenham Festival and intended as a single-movement companion piece to the Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso. The composer soon found the piece growing beyond its remit, and so a four-movement sonata-form emerged. The nocturnal character is maintained throughout with the exception of the third Scherzo Frenetico movement whose source of clattering fury was the Whettam’s angry reaction to the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968. This powerful movement forms a kind of ‘golden section’ climax to what is otherwise largely introspective and atmospheric music. Despite the slow character of much of the outer movements, Whettam always leads the listener on a voyage of logical development, full of character and emotional contrasts. This is in no-way any kind of ‘new age’ wandering around the keyboard, although the spectre of Messiaen peers through the window now and again – especially on the second Notturno Lunare movement. My favourite is the final ‘Infinito, andar del tempo’ (‘Infinite, as far as time’), whose deceptively simple lines and harmonies really do express the unknown depths of infinity.

Ballade Hébraïque was originally written for violin and piano and called simply ‘Ballade’. Violinist Yossi Zivoni’s international performances gave rise to comment on the music’s Jewish qualities, and a subsequent orchestration was given the Hebraic title. This adaptation was made for duo Goldstone and Clemmow. The opening is a kind of recitative which blooms into a more lyrical character. There is a percussive central section which forms the climax to a mirror-image conclusion. As you might expect, a strong melodic character with an orchestral sounding ‘player 2’ works very well in piano duet. The piece has a strong sense of power and inevitability, and at its most expressive a sincerely poetic sensitivity.

Prelude, Scherzo and Elegy shares a similar structure to a number of Whettam’s other chamber works, contrasting a strong central scherzo with a lyrical concluding movement. The Prelude has its own arch form, developing onto an assertive central toccata from more restful, but mysterious outer sections. The scherzo is a compact, staccato ‘molto vivace’ which builds in tempo towards its ‘presto con forza’ end. The final Elegy is almost a pre-echo of some aspects in Night Music with recognisable fingerprints such as slow trills, wide, open intervals between the hands and gently repeating bell-like notes also appear in this movement.

Fantasy from 1956 was an adaptation from a piece for flute, oboe and piano written the year before but appearing for the first time in this form, having ever after remained unpublished and unperformed in the composer’s ‘doom cupboard’ - we all have them – mine’s full! This piece contrasts nicely with some of the others, having a more contrapuntal nature. Aside from a thoughtful conclusion, the music is lively and energetic, and the techniques involved heralded a new departure in Whettam’s music, toward his more melodic later style.

This fine CD ends with the Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso, which was commissioned by Ian Lake for his 1967 ‘Music in Our Time’ festival in London. The whole piece is written without time signature, but the Prelude has a natural flow between gestural figures in the treble clef and strong, irregular chords. The Scherzo has an elemental solidity, the bass notes sometimes appearing in octave seconds which have indistinct tone, but a thudding rhythmic effect. The tonal centre works towards a final A via a quite central interlude, and a final ‘maestisissimo’.

Graham Whettam’s piano music – solo or duet, is strong stuff, and played with effortless and convincing solidity by Goldstone and Clemmow – together or apart. The recording is excellent. I have been mightily impressed by this new release which has reduced my general ignorance by a significant notch. I sincerely hope this CD will receive the broadcast attention it deserves. All of these works are recorded here for the first time, and with Graham Whettam’s 80 th birthday in 2007 he is by all accounts long overdue for some extra recognition.
Dominy Clements

CLASSICAL SOURCE:
Truth to tell, interest in this 2006 release was generated by the sad news that the English composer Graham Whettam had died (on 17 August 2007) just short of his 80th-birthday.

The substantial, 25-minute Night Music (1968) is tense and nervous if slow-moving before the “shooting stars” arrive. This is the composer’s description (the booklet note is his, so too the appreciation of the performers). This is powerful and dramatic music that continues with the almost-static, spare second movement, ‘Notturno Lunare “tu, solinga, eternal peregrina”’, which effectively represents Leopardi’s “solitary, eternal wanderer”. This is brushed aside by ‘Scherzo Frenetico’ (Whettam’s direct response to “such madness in Prague”, that is the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968) and returns to further solitary musings in the (again Leopardi) finale, ‘Infinito, andar del tempo’. This is a fine piece, but is it too unvaried in its extremes of tempos? Anthony Goldstone gives a very commendable performance.

So too does Caroline Clemmow. She has two solo offerings – Prelude, Scherzo and Elegy (1964) and Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso (1967). Whettam’s musical motifs are always interesting and his rhythmic ingenuity ear-catching; but a doubt remains as to whether his expression is limited to nocturnal ‘slow’ music and explosive ‘fast’ scherzos that follow a similar trajectory. The solo music could all be slices of one big and similar cake, although the demonic stance of ‘Scherzo Impetuoso’ is well-sustained through invention as well as rhythm, yet the “quiet interlude” that serves as a ‘trio’ seems simply to arrive, stake its claim, and disappear, before furious activity is resumed.

Of the two works for piano duet, the Ballade Hébraïque (1981 adapted 2005 and originally for violin and piano) initially seems to lack the ‘flavour’ that might be associated with music so entitled, yet its rhapsodising development and increase in passion is notable and well-controlled over the 11-minute span not least by explosive and faster means that add a ‘recognisable’ scalic impetuousness. Fantasy (1956/2005, which brings three previous versions of the work, for different forces, “into line”) is rather more spontaneous than some of the other music here and opens out with a surprising degree of emotional candour.

Allowing that the music here is but ‘one’ example of his output – there is also chamber music and several orchestral symphonies – the impression nonetheless of Whettam’s style is music written in a universal 20th-century 'European’ language, one that is familiar, accessible, yet also fascinatingly individual. One wants to hear more. Perhaps more importantly, one wants to listen again to the music here that Goldstone and Clemmow (husband and wife, by the way) have recorded so dedicatedly: for there seems something more to discover that initial auditions have not revealed. Colin Anderson

MUSICAL OPINION:
Composer Graham Whettam was born in 1927 and in timely anticipation of his 80th birthday next year comes this new disc from Divine Art, all premiere recordings of his music for solo piano and piano duet, played by the Goldstone & Clemmow duo.

The first thing that struck me about this CD is the excellence of the performances; clearly, these very gifted pianists play with a total commitment that is rare in performances of modern music. The second is the consistence of and excellence of the writing for keyboard. In Whettam’s art there are deep aspects of contemplation, occasionally layered with the brilliance of sudden emotive outbursts, which are compelling and which betoken the work of a composer whose music simply had to be.

This may not be music for every day, and, at least in this country, Graham Whettam has not received the attention that his music obviously deserves. I very much hope that this excellent record will go a long way to bring the work of this thoughtful and accomplished creative figure to the attention of a wider musical public.
Robert Matthew-Walker

NEW CLASSICS:
Graham Whettam was born in 1927 and has devoted himself to composition since 1948. Self-taught, he studied the work of great composers, especially Bartok and Mahler, and found his musical ‘voice’ by listening critically to his works played by leading musicians and orchestras. J. Arthur Rank commissioned him to write the orchestral score for the famous film ‘Genevieve’ in 1953, and two years later a Children’s Film Foundation production with music by Whettam won a Premier Award at the Venice Film Festival. The internationally renowned Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow formed their piano duo in 1984 and have given many two-piano and piano-duet recitals as well as double concertos, taking in major festivals in Europe and the USA. Their concert repertoire mixes well-known masterpieces and rarities, often including first hearings of unjustly neglected works, and their recordings include many world premières. On this new CD the husband and wife duo play five pieces by Graham Whettam: Night Music for piano solo (Anthony Goldstone), Ballade hébraïque piano duet, Prelude, Scherzo and Elegy  piano solo (Caroline Clemmow), Fantasy piano duet, and Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso piano solo (Caroline Clemmow). Graham Whettam’s  exuberant yet accessible music deserves to be much more widely known and these exceptional performances should help bring that about. ‘Graham Whettam is that now rare kind of composer, a natural symphonist; his ideas fall readily into patterns of conflict and resolution’ - The Sunday Times.
(unnamed reviewer)

LIVERPOOL DAILY POST:
The Liverpool-born pianist Anthony Goldstone, with Caroline Clemmow, feature on [Divine Art] in a programme of solo and duet music by the 79-year-old British composer Graham Whettam. I had heard little of the music, but this collection, which is well released, made me wish to hear more. Night Music and Ballade Hebraique are among the five works included here.
Peter Spaull

MUSICWEB (2):
This year marks the 80 th birthday of British composer Graham Whettam. Although discs of his orchestral music have appeared from time to time on smaller labels like Redcliffe Edition this is the first exclusively devoted to his piano music.
 
Whettam is of that generation of composers which, in the 1960s were considered to be at or near the cutting edge of contemporary music but who by clinging on to their own hard-fought style and language have been overtaken by the latest fashion of the younger composers. It always happens but in Whettam’s case it is us, the musical public who are the sufferers as this disc clearly testifies.
 
Here is my first reaction after hearing the disc whole … in three sittings I hasten to add. Every piece is superbly performed by this man and wife team who have made five other discs for this label and twenty-something others over the last decade or so. It is a rich and natural recording made in a church in North Lincolnshire - I have visited it. It has a superb acoustic and incidentally a magnificent aspect over the Humber. Each work is very fine indeed. None is weaker than another and in the case of the first piece, which is the longest on the disc ‘Night Music’, the word ‘outstanding’ should spring readily to mind. The booklet essay is by the composer - always a help. What he has to say is very interesting and he provides useful and accessible commentary should not put off the less technical listener.
 
What of Graham Whettam’s musical language? I was new to it. He could be described as one of the ‘Cheltenham composers’ a term now almost thought of as derogatory but it should not be. He was one of those composers, born in the 1920s, who in the 1960s had many performances for instance at the annual Cheltenham Contemporary music festival; at that time an almost unique event.
 
Reading through the notes we see that Night Music was “requested for the 1968 Cheltenham Festival” and the ‘Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso’ was heard at the festival in the same year. Other works like the ‘Fantasy’ and his wonderful ‘Sinfonia ContraTimore’, recorded by Redcliffe Edition, were premiered in London.
 
The ‘Fantasy’ is the earliest work here and was adapted from a piece for flute, oboe and piano. Although obviously ‘young man’s music’ with its feel of searching experimentation, it makes an immediate impression. It is in a succinct ternary form structure, based on a tone-row announced at the start and later developed into a virile fugue.
 
Next, chronologically speaking - and it’s interesting to listen these works in that order - comes the ‘Prelude, Scherzo and Elegy’ played here by Caroline Clemmow. It is, as the title suggests, another ternary structure, the slow, polytonal outer sections sounding, as my ten year old nephew vividly described it as if someone was “sitting alone in a dark room in complete fear”. The middle section is a spiky excursion with irregular rhythmic patterns which reminds me a little of Bartók.
 
The next and slightly similar work ‘Prelude and Scherzo Impetuoso’, commissioned by Cheltenham, is also entrusted to the sensitive virtuosity of Caroline Clemmow. Its middle movement is marked ‘allegro assai con precipitazione’ a new one on me, but you know what he means.
 
‘Night Music’, performed by Anthony Goldstone, inhabits a world of softly focused mystery. It has four movements beginning with a long ‘Fantasia’, then a gripping ‘Notturno Lunare’ subtitled “tu, solinga, eternal peregrina’ (solitary, eternal wonderer”). The composer’s notes identify the wanderer as the Italian poet Leopardi who moves slowly “across the sky in an infinity of silvered silence”. After a wispy ‘Scherzo Frenetico’ - Whettam likes that word – comes a finale the same length as the opening movement. This is headed “Infinito, andar del tempo” (infinite as far as time), an incredibly still, Martian landscape with no beginning and no end. This makes for a brave ending and is exceedingly successful even if ultimately emotionally unsatisfying.
 
That brings us to the ‘Ballade Hébraïque’ for piano duet, the latest work on the disc but which is now twenty-five or so years old. Stylistically it is of a piece with the rest of the works here. I did wonder however if Ernst Bloch had been looking over Whettam’s shoulder. Originally it was written for violin and piano and was prompted by a letter from no less a luminary than Yehudi Menuhin. Thus the title is not altogether inappropriate. The opening recitative has an Hebraic sound and key sense, especially so when coupled with the ornamentation. Again there is something of an oppressive and mysterious atmosphere just as in Night Music. The whole range of the piano is used and as is typical of Whettam, the tonality is mostly undecided with quartal harmony alongside some whole tone writing. After about five minutes all hell breaks loose in an exciting Allegro. The opening tempo and much of the earlier material re-emerges and the work ends in contemplation.
 
I say again … a splendid disc and one to which I for one, will regularly return.  
Gary Higginson