Graham Whettam: Complete Cello Works

By Ian Hobson

Item Number: NX.PMR0041

British composer Graham Whettam (1927-2007) was largely self-taught and was highly popular in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 1960s. Regarded by the Sunday Times as "a natural symphonist," he composed a dozen symphonies between his mid-twenties and his death. While these formed the core of his repertoire, he also contributed some large-scale concertos, several shorter symphonic and concertante works, numerous chamber and instrumental pieces, and some vocal and choral works. His pieces are invariably dramtic, feature skillful construction and a deep sense of poignancy. His Cello Concerto from 1999 is his last concerto and an appealing mix of various traditions of the twentieth century from Mahler to Shostakovich. Cellist Martin Rummel, alongside the Sinfonia da Camera and the Woolaston Festival Orchestra present here Whettam's entire output for cello.