Prolific and often controversial composer Malcolm Williamson, the first Australian Master of the Queen’s Music (and the only appointee not to be knighted!), has dropped into near-oblivion since he died in 2003 – something that London-based Victorian pianist Antony Gray hopes to ameliorate with the release of this beautifully performed anthology.

Gray plays on most of the tracks – alongside crack performers from St Paul’s Sinfonia the New London Chamber Ensemble – and has written liner notes on his friend’s complex personality.

Impish and attention-getting sound grabs of music for a 1966 TV project punctuate the collection, lending a sense of cohesion, just as the recurring Promenade interludes do in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. We get a terrific Pas de quatre for wind quartet and piano, worthy of Poulenc; a trio for clarinet, cello and piano; some solo pieces, and a substantial and strikingly good Concerto for Wind Quintet and Two Pianos.
At its heart, and worth the price alone, is the moving