Welsh pianist Llyr Williams is an uncommonly expressive and communicative artist blessed with a profound musical intelligence. His new release on the British-based Signum label, Wagner without Words (SIGCD388; 2 CDs; release date Spetember 9, 2014) can trace its roots to when, at the age of 10, he was given the Solti Ring cycle as a Christmas present, and shortly after started playing the musical dramas on the piano using scores borrowed from his local library.

Llyr's lifelong passion for Wagner's music manifests itself in Wagner without Words, which traverses more than four decades of the composer's oeuvre and includes original works for piano such as the early Fantasy, composed in 1832 when Wagner was 19 years old, famous transcriptions such as Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde by Franz Liszt, and Llyr's own arrangements of scenes from Parsifal. “It's a totally convincing collection, and technically superb,” according to the UK’s Guardian. “Williams is equal to the toughest challenges that Liszt presents, but always puts Wagner first. Whether it's the sparklingly clean articulation of the Spinning Chorus from The Flying Dutchman, the ethereal chords of Elsa's Bridal Procession from Lohengrin, or the glorious unfurling of the main theme of Rienzi in Sancto Spirito Cavaliere, everything has a sense of dramatic purpose, as well as power and tonal beauty; the colours Williams creates from the keyboard in Siegfried's Rhine Journey and the Parsifal suite are radiant and entrancing.”

Llyr's perceptiveness and ability to communicate Wagner's expansive music with a mere 10 fingers and 88 keys manifested itself famously at his 1997 audition for the Royal Academy of Music in London, as described by then Principal Sir Curtis Price:

"After graduating with a first from Oxford, Llyr applied for the repetiteur course at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where I was then Principal. I should explain that a repetiteur is a highly specialized pianist who accompanies opera rehearsals; one must be able to play any score at sight, teach sometimes illiterate singers their parts, be able to help them with several languages and shape their interpretation of particular roles. Applicants for the Academy course are asked to prepare a scene from a standard opera and, at audition, play from the full score whilst singing the vocal parts at the same time. This can be a tricky business, and most applicants choose something fairly uncomplicated, from Mozart, for instance. (Ll?r's audition is now legendary, but I was actually there.) When we asked him what he had prepared, he said The Ring. "Good heavens," we exclaimed, "what passage?" "Whatever you'd like," he replied. Accepting this brash challenge, I said, "OK, let's hear the beginning of Act 2 of Siegfried." Llyr proceeded to play and sing all the different voice parts, without even looking at the score - beautifully. I doubt that even Daniel Barenboim could do that. Needless to say, Llyr became a mainstay of the Academy Opera Department for the next two years, learning skills which have stood him good stead as, for example, one of the official accompanists of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition."

Llyr has performed internationally with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among many others. He made his Carnegie debut in Weill Recital Hall in 2009, and in May 2014 performed three all-Beethoven programs at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Among his numerous honors is a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2004.

You can listen to excerpts from Wagner without Words here.

For further information, image or interview requests, please contact Melanne Mueller, melanne@musiccointernational.com, 917 907 2785

Wagner without Words
Llyr Williams, piano

Release date: September 9, 2014

Signum Records
Catalog number SIGCD 388
Full price (2 CDs)

CD 1
1. Wagner / Liszt - Entry of the Guests from Tannhäuser (10:35)
2. Wagner - Fantasy (25:57)
3. Wagner / Liszt - Spinning Chorus from The Flying Dutchman (6:27)
4. Wagner - Albumblatt für Ernst Benedikt Kietz: "Song without Words" (1:47)
5. Wagner / Liszt - Elsa' Bridal Procession from Lohengrin (9:03) 6. Wagner - Zürich Waltzes (1:05)
7. Wagner / Glenn Gould / Llyr Williams - Siegfried's Rhine-Journey from Götterdämmerung (13:22)
Total time CD 1: 68:38

CD 2
1. Wagner / Liszt - Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde (7:46) Wagner / Llyr Williams - Scenes from Parsifal (21:19)
2. Transformation Music (8:35)
3. Parsifal and the Flower Maidens (6:22)
4. Good Friday Music (6:21)
5. Wagner - In das Album der Fürstin M. (2:49)
6. Wagner / Liszt - Santo spirito cavaliere from Rienzi (9:29)
7. Wagner - Sonata for the Book of Mrs. M. W. (12:42)
8. Wagner / Liszt - Walhall from Das Rheingold (5:42)
9. Wagner - Albumblatt for Mrs. Betty Schott (4:25)
10. Wagner / Glenn Gould / Llyr Williams - Prelude to The Meistersinger from Nürnberg (9:14)
Total time CD 2: 74:01

Recorded February 4 - 6, 2014, Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Suffolk, UK, and March 15 - 16, 2014, Wyastone Recording Studio, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
Producer: Judith Sherman
Engineers: Andrew Mellor (Snape Maltings) and Mike Hatch (Wyastone Leys)
Editing assistant: Jeanne Velonis