Lento for Strings

Lento for Strings is an orchestral work by the Australian composer Malcolm Williamson.

History of the work

The brief but eloquent Lento for Strings was written in 1985, while the composer was in Australia. The work was commissioned by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, who premièred it in the autumn of that year in Melbourne, and Williamson chose to dedicate the piece to a longtime friend and champion, Paul McDermott. McDermott was held in particularly high regard by Williamson, especially as it was he who had successfully conducted his Symphony No. 6: Liturgy of Homage a few years before.^[1][2]

Structure

Firmly rooted in the

The Lento is scored for orchestral strings only, playing divisi most of the time.

Recordings

Recordings of the Lento available commercially include:

• Iceland Symphony Orchestra
  conducted by Rumon Gamba. (CHAN 1046)
• CRESSIDIA CLASSICS: London Schubert Players, conducted by Alan Tongue. (CRES CD 196)
• CARLTON CLASSICS:
  English Northern Philharmonia
  conducted by Alan Simmons (Carlton 8843818)

References

Notes

Sources

• Foreman, Lewis (2007). Williamson: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 (PDF) (CD). Chandos Records. CHAN 10406. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
• Harris & Meredith. ^{[full citation needed]}.

External links

• France, John (2014-10-29). "Malcolm Williamson: Lento for strings". British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content (blog).