Presents
William Gillies Whittaker
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Among the Northumbrian Hills for Piano and String Quartet
William Gillies Whittaker (1876-1944) was born in English city of Newcastle upon Tyne. He initially studied mathematics at Armstrong College but transferred to music. After graduating, he became a member of the teaching staff there. He served as a lecturer of music at the University of Liverpool and at Cornell University in upstate New York. He eventually became a professor of music at the University of Glasgow and then Principal of the Scottish National Academy of Music. As a composer his music was heavily influenced by the folk songs of Northern England and the style of his writing owes much to his good friend the composer Gustav Holst. Whittaker was widely regarded as one of the leading Bach conductors and scholars of his time. He edited various instrumental works of the 17th and 18th centuries and English folk songs of which he made extensive choral arrangements. He was editor of the series of Bach's cantatas with English texts published by Oxford University. Most of his works were for voice in one form or another and his arrangements of English folksongs enjoyed considerable popularity in their time
His Among the Northumbrian Hills for piano quintet was completed in 1918 and published four years later in 1922. Dedicated to Gustav Holst, it begins with a theme upon which there are eleven free variations, each with a title. In order they are: 1. A Fantastic Garden in Spring, 2. Early Morning, 3. Children at Play, 4. Reflections, 5. Gloom, 6. Swallows, 7. Midsummer, 8. Haymaking, 9. Midwinter, 10. At the Fireside, and 11. Farewell. Whittaker lived the better part of his life in Northumbria and this work presumably was meant to give his impressions of life there. In many ways, it is a unique work, tonal but written in a post-romantic era style. Rather than describe the music, we will let the soundbites do it for us.
Parts: $39.95
