Luciano Williamson Electric Guitar Concerto
Huw Cheston Electric Guitar
Recorded at RWCMD 30/03/17

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_electric_guitar_concert

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Electric Guitar Concerto movement 1

Electric Bagatelle (2018)
for large orchestra
Performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in their Composition: Wales scheme, at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, 23/02/18, conducted by B Tommy Andersson
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnow

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_electric_bagatelle_2018

Electric Bagatelle was written to showcase the most instantly impressive aspects of the orchestra as quickly as possible. Focussing on vivid sound-colours in an incredibly tight structure, it wastes no time in charging forward with relentless ferocity and energy. Conceived broadly in three sections, the frenetically darting themes of the opening are stopped dead in their tracks by an unseen force. Fragments lie shattered on the ground as the dust clears, until they pull themselves together for one last hellish attempt at finishing.

This is a 2 minute excerpt from the piece.

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Electric Bagatelle (excerpt)

Piano Concerto (2018)
for piano and chamber orchestra
Performed by Connor Fogel during Atmospheres 2018 Festival, in the Dora Stoutzker Hall, RWCMD 06/05/18, conducted by the composer

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_piano_concerto_full_sco

I first met Connor Fogel in 2014, at the start of my studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. During the four year course Connor has played a great deal of my music, including the premiere performance of my 5 Minute Pieces (2015). With his continued friendship supporting me through my time in Cardiff, I could think of no other way I would want to end my undergraduate degree than by writing a concerto for him.

During my studies at RWCMD I have been exposed to a huge amount of new music and learned a great deal about composition, aesthetics and musical philosophy. As a result, the interests and goals I had when I began have been altered significantly, as has my musical voice. This is certainly no bad thing, but I have occasionally found myself conflicted by the opposing ideals of my past and present.

Piano Concerto is my attempt at resolving this issue. 16 contiguous variations gave me a framework within which I could musically release everything I had accumulated while studying at the college, the idea being to allow myself to start afresh, retaining what I had learned but removing the baggage of ideals modified by four years of trying to maintain them in the face of an evolving aesthetic. I suppose, in a way, they are variations on an experience, rather than on a discreet singular musical idea, and the concerto itself is a Ragnarok, a Great Flood, a phoenix regenerating with apocalyptic destruction.

The first fourteen variations are intended to be as different and contrasting as possible. Each one filters an idea from the previous (be it harmonic, thematic or aesthetic) through a new lens, exploring every technique I’ve learned as if to use them up. Unlike traditional theme and variation structure, returning every few bars to an initial idea, the piece takes on a more organic quality as it evolves naturally through ideas as they appear chronologically, offering a more obvious linear progression through the drastically different sections. Once every idea is presented a fifteenth variation squeezes them together, two at a time interrupted by seven fanfares, a final hellish scream as they are burned in metaphorical fire. When all trace of my old music is thoroughly destroyed and irrecoverable a new, innocent, honest musical idea presents itself, freed from the previous restraints, without connotation or implication, just bare, pure music, a new beginning.

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Piano Concerto - perf. Connor Fogel

The mist cleared and the light changed and suddenly there were glaciers
for string quartet
by Luciano Williamson

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_the_mist_cleared_and_th

Violin I - Elliot Kempton
Violin II - Lydia Barrington
Viola - Mike Cliburn
Cello - Samantha Drees

In early September 2018 I went to Svalbard for a week. It took 24 hours from take-off at Heathrow to landing in Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost functioning civilian settlement with over 1000 permanent residents, where I stayed with an American dock worker, sleeping on a mattress on his living room floor (while he slept on the sofa; a Norwegian coastguard had rented the bedroom for the week). While I was there the temperature ranged from 1-7ºC, I wasn't allowed out of the town limits without an armed guard in case of polar bear attack, it snowed on the hills around the town, and I hiked across two glaciers and up a mountain.

What really struck me during my stay was the everchanging nature of the surrounding landscape. Presumably a result of the extreme weather, it seemed as though everything was different every time I looked, mountains appearing and disappearing of their own accord. One such experience in particular stuck with me; when I first arrived there was a great deal of fog surrounding the town, and I couldn't see all the way up the valley. Some time later it cleared, and when I looked up expecting what I had seen before I instead saw glaciers. It was startling, to say the least.

...and suddenly there were glaciers

...and the light changed...

The mist cleared...

Kemal at Gallipoli
by Luciano Williamson
Hastings Philharmonic, cond. Marcio da Silva

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/kemal_at_gallipoli_full_score_2019-

It was during the Gallipoli Campaign of World War One that Mustafa Kemal made his name as a great leader. On August 9th 1915 he withstood a counterattack from New Zealand troops at Chunuk Bair. His staff supported retreating, but Kemal disagreed, telling his men:

“Don’t rush it, my sons. Don’t be in a hurry. We will choose exactly the right minute, then I shall go out in front. When you see me raise my hand, look to it that you have your bayonets sharp and fixed, and come out after me.”

On August 10th, at 4:45am, Kemal raised his hand. The Ottoman attack devastated the British and New Zealand troops, and Chunuk Bair was reclaimed.

Kemal at Gallipoli is the story of that night. The sun sets in the wake of an artillery barrage, echoes of gunfire ringing in the air, the sounds of distant fighting growing weaker. A velvet darkness, the stars singing, insects chirping, a soft wind through the trees and the water lapping against the shore down below. A rumour stirs the Ottoman camp - “We’re attacking now!” It dissipates. What little sleep that can be had is plagued by restless dreams. Finally, it is time to prepare for the counterattack. Bayonets fixed, all eyes are on Kemal, whose hand signals the charge.

Kemal at Gallipoli was first performed by the Hastings Philharmonic on May 3rd 2019 at St Mary in the Castle, Hastings, conducted by Marcio da Silva.
https://www.hastingsphilharmonic.com

Kemal At Gallipoli (chamber orchestra version) (live)

Kemal at Gallipoli (2020)
for large orchestra
Performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in their Composition: Wales scheme, at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, 04/03/20, conducted by B Tommy Andersson
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnow

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_kemal_at_gallipoli_large_orchestra_ful

It was during the Gallipoli Campaign of World War One that Mustafa Kemal made his name as a great leader. On August 9th 1915 he withstood a counterattack from New Zealand troops at Chunuk Bair. His staff supported retreating, but Kemal disagreed, telling his men:

“Don’t rush it, my sons. Don’t be in a hurry. We will choose exactly the right minute, then I shall go out in front. When you see me raise my hand, look to it that you have your bayonets sharp and fixed, and come out after me.”

On August 10th, at 4:45am, Kemal raised his hand. The Ottoman attack devastated the British and New Zealand troops, and Chunuk Bair was reclaimed.

Kemal at Gallipoli is the story of that night. The sun sets in the wake of an artillery barrage, echoes of gunfire ringing in the air, the sounds of distant fighting growing weaker. A velvet darkness, the stars singing, insects chirping, a soft wind through the trees and the water lapping against the shore down below. A rumour stirs the Ottoman camp - “We’re attacking now!” It dissipates. What little sleep that can be had is plagued by restless dreams. Finally, it is time to prepare for the counterattack. Bayonets fixed, all eyes are on Kemal, whose hand signals the charge.

A chamber orchestra version of this piece is also available.

This is a 2 minute excerpt from the piece.

Kemal At Gallipoli for large orchestra (excerpt)

Requiescat (text by Oscar Wilde)
Recorded live at the London Song Festival 2019
Annabel Kennedy, mezzo-soprano
Cameron Richardson-Eames, piano

Requiescat (live)

The mountain seemed to change completely (2020)
for solo viola
by Luciano Williamson

perf. Ruth Rose

Score: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/lwilliamson_the_mountain_seemed_to_change_complete

The largest settlement on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is a town called Longyearbyen. Longyearbyen sits on the south shore of Adventfjorden. Across the bay towers the mountain Hiorthfjellet, rising nearly a kilometre from the arctic waters

When I arrived in September 2018 thick clouds completely obscured Hiorthfjellet. Longyearbyen seemed to be adrift in a grey void, alone. I turned to walk to my accommodation. After some time I looked back, and was surprised at the sudden appearance of a mountain.

The next morning, a light dusting of snow rested atop the peak.

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The mountain seemed to change completely

A Christmas Fantasia for chamber orchestra
by Luciano Williamson
orchestra credits below
view the score here: https://issuu.com/lucianowilliamson/docs/00_-_a_christmas_fantasia_-_full_score_2020-11-30

After the success of our Star Trek Medley project, and with a carol-service-less Christmas fast approaching, Dayna and I decided to try this format again with a medley of some classic Christmas carols. Along the way “some” became “all” and I had a great deal of fun weaving as many excerpts as I could into the texture. By my count there are 21 carols referenced in just six minutes, including a fughetta on Gloucestershire Wassail and as many as five simultaneous carols during the finale!

Watch the virtual orchestra perform it here: https://youtu.be/KQUnmPf3Vw4

Flute/Piccolo: Esther Robinson
Oboe: Gayle Hearn
Clarinet: Emma Davies
Bassoon: Nadia Plummer
Horn: Sam Holburt
Trumpet: Sam Din
Trombone: Alice Hutton
Glockenspiel: Ellen Smith
Harp: Mared Pugh-Evans
Piano: Emma Cayeux
Violin I: Anna Holmes, Olivia Jago, Dayna Townsend
Violin II: Heidi Forde, Mark Loveday
Viola: Cathryn Jenkins, Maggie Lamelas, Ben Norris
Cello: Sam Dawson, Sion Dawson, James McBeth
Bass: Matthew Farrell

Project organised by Dayna Townsend
Mixed and edited by Luciano Williamson

EMAIL: lucianowilliamson@hotmail.com
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A Christmas Fantasia

Composer, conductor, engraver.

Graduate (MMus, BMus) of RWCMD.

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http://lucianowilliamson.com

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