Composing Australia: Nostalgia and National Identity in the Music of Malcolm Williamson Composing Australia: Nostalgia and National Identity in the Music of Malcolm Williamson , by Carolyn Philpott, Melbourne, Lyrebird Press, 2018, xx + 228 pp., ISBN-978-0-73403-788-6 (paperback), ISBN-978-0-73403-789-3 (e-book: pdf), ISSN 1325 5266

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 As related in Meredith and Harris (Citation2007, 187–200, 256–57, 458).2 Williamson’s pre-1981 scores were largely represented by mainstream music publisher Josef Weinberger. The composer’s partner Simon Campion (now deceased) handled later works through his own Campion Music business. When researching Williamson’s later symphonies, I struggled to get any response from Campion Music and there was no active website. Proper publisher representation and public archive access may, in future, assist prospective Williamson researchers.3 The composer’s subsequent intention to edit the score to enable one large orchestra to perform it was never realized, but such a digitally engraved performing edition is feasible and should be prioritized. I have consulted the complete autograph score that belonged to conductor Paul McDermott (1916–1985), which is located in Rare Music, Special Collections, University of Melbourne, Australia (UniM Bail Music RB, MS WILL 4).4 Although not orchestral, Philpott could have referenced David Lumsdaine’s piano work Kelly Ground (1967), which clearly illustrates aspects of the Kelly story, or George Dreyfus’s Ned Kelly Ballads (1964).5 Williamson’s contributions to the 1988 Bicentenary celebrations bring to mind the large corpus of major works that were commissioned and performed throughout Australia for that event, but then largely set aside. It is time for a volume which examines this important body of music and how it represented that important 1988 landmark.Additional informationNotes on contributorsRhoderick McNeillRhoderick McNeill is an honorary professor in the School of Creative Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Australia. He has written four books, including The Australian Symphony from Federation to 1960 (Ashgate, 2014), The Music of Carl Vine (Wildbird, 2017), and The Symphony in Australia 1960–2020 (Routledge, 2023).