Liszt, Messiaen and Walton from Welsh Festivals in 2019

Nicola Heywood Thomas presents a selection of music recorded at three festivals in Wales in 2019, including the Gower, Machynlleth and Presteigne festivals. The concert begins at the Gower Festival, with Liszt’s virtuosic and dramatic Ballade No 2, performed by the pianist Llŷr Williams. This is followed by a work composed in a concentration camp, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, given in a recital at the Machynlleth Festival by Camille Thomas and Julius Drake. The final piece in the programme is the highly demanding String Quartet in A minor, which William Walton found quite a challenge to compose. It was performed at the Presteigne Festival by the Albion Quartet.

Liszt: Ballade No 2 in B minor, S.171
Llŷr Williams, piano

Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time (Louange à l’éternité de Jesus)
Camille Thomas, cello
Julius Drake, piano

Walton: String Quartet in A minor
Albion Quartet:
Tamsin Waley-Cohen, violin
Emma Parker, violin
Anne Beilby, viola
Nathaniel Boyd, cello

Produced by Luke Whitlock