John R. Williamson: Music for Piano:
Volume 1 played by Murray McLachlan (Piano)

A well-varied selection of John R Williamson's piano music, composed between 1990 and 1996, is included on the CD, with a generous duration of just over 70 minutes. The composer was present at the recording sessions in the Whiteley Hall, Chetham's School of Music, Manchester. One would think that he is well pleased with the result: Murray McLachlan is an outstanding pianist, and his interpretation sounds convincing, helped by an excellent piano sound and acoustic caught superbly by Jim Pattison. The recording quality is first rate. First on the CDE comes Twelve New Piano Preludes of 1993, one in each major key from C to B. The composer has a distinctive harmonic style, which I easily recognised from the piano parts in his Twelve Housman Songs CD (DRD0133), and around which he creates many varied atmospheres. The Piano Sonata No.2 of 1991 is a substantial work in five, well-contrasted movements in a palindromic structure. Following this, it is interesting to hear his Twelve Palindromic Preludes of 1996, in which there is again a wealth of variety. The concluding item is his splendid three-movement Piano Sonatina No.2 of 1990. The booklet, with its concise notes on the music, composer and pianist, is well presented. Highly recommended.

I. Milnes 13th August, 2001

The output of the Manchester-born composer John R Williamson...is largely centred on the piano. The small but enterprising firm of Dunelm Records has previously issued a CD single with a group of twelve (out of his eighty odd) A E Housman songs for voice and piano. Now they feature that fine artist Murray McLachlan in a substantial collection of Williamson's solo piano output of the 1990s, recorded at Chetham's School. The Housman songs indicated a composer with an individual take on traditional resources, direct and lyrical in melodic approach, his harmonies palindromically constructed around a key centre but basically strongly tonal in effect, perhaps a little deficient in rhythmic.
Williamson's 'palindromic' approach to harmony gives a lot of the musica certain modal-oriental tang... There are times when a tendency to sequential repitition, or for every phrase or tag to be answered by its inversion, come to seem limiting mannerisms: what goes up almost inevitably comes down, and ends are found in beginnings... A great deal of what is to be heard on this disc is attractive... Williamson manages many effective contrasts of mood and character. Large, sustained structures do not seem - at least on the evidence of this disc - to be his forte (or his intention): even the second Piano Sonata is in five shortish, well cotrasted movements. It's the various sets of preludes - deft, jewelled, incisive miniatures covering a kaleidoscopic expressive range within a fairly uniform harmonic colouring - which best display his strengths... McLachlan expounds all the music with clear sympathy, affection and technical command, in a beautifully pellucid recording.

Calum MacDonald, International Piano, 5 (19),p77, January/February, 2002.