What composer helped spur Michelle Kwan to Olympic excellence? Kwan skated to William Alwyn’s harp concerto, “Lyra Angelica,” during her legendary free skate at the 1998 Winter Olympics.*

Polyglot, poet, artist and especially musician, Alwyn played flute for a time with the London Symphony Orchestra. He taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955. He was a composer of symphonies, operas, concertos, string quartets and film scores.

My personal favorite of the symphonies is No. 4. Dig that cascading scherzo of a second movement! Then feel your heart tug at the third.

His Symphony No. 3 may be the most structurally amazing, with the first movement generated from an 8-note theme, the second from a 4-note fragment, and the last a combination of the two. By golly, that’s all twelve notes of the chromatic scale – twelve-tone music! Then why is it so damned beautiful?

Of course, there is much to be said for the simple pleasures of his music for “The Crimson Pirate.”

In all, Alwyn wrote music for dozens of films, including “Odd Man Out,” “The Fallen Idol,” “A Night to Remember,” and “Swiss Family Robinson.” Fun fact: He was also a cousin of Gary Cooper!

Stay tuned, next Tuesday I’ll be posting about the love of Alwyn’s life, composer Doreen Carwithen, on the centenary of her birth.

For the present, happy birthday, William Alwyn (1905-1985)!

*Attentive listeners will note the interpolation of Satie’s “Gymnopédie No. 1” (in Debussy’s orchestration) in the middle of Kwan’s routine.

But the inspiring music for harp and strings is all Alwyn. You can hear the complete piece at the link below. Inspired by the metaphysical poetry of Giles Fletcher, it was always a highlight of my radio playlist on an Easter morning.