Walton Chandos

This volume of Chandos' series of Walton's Music from the Olivier films includes Richard III: A Shakespearean Scenario and Major Barbara: a Shavian Sequence, concert arrangements by Christopher Palmer, as well an excerpt of incidental music from John Gielgud's 1941 stage production of Macbeth. These particular excerpts don't reveal Walton at his most consistent or his most profound, but they do illustrate his skill at writing colorful, evocative music with a strong sense of drama. Richard III is such a dark play and, heard out of context, Walton's music doesn't seem to have the gravitas to match its malignant tone.

The concept behind the work called Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario is to take as much as possible of William Walton's score for Laurence Olivier's 1943 film and interpolate suitable excerpts from Shakespeare's play to make an hour-long concert work for speaker, chorus, and orchestra. Though it demands all your attention, the high quality of the result thoroughly rewards it, clearly and intelligently combining the two mediums in a single, arresting form.

The Doric gives outstanding, virtuoso performances of William Walton’s two string quartets. The first of them, formidable in its technical demands and harmonic language, is virtually unrecognisable from the Walton of maturity, embracing as it does the avant-garde ideas he flirted with in his youth. Walton said it was “full of undigested Bartók and Schoenberg”, but, when played with such panache, it provides a pungent contrast to the clarity and spry rhythmic sparring of the later A minor Quartet.

Sinfonia of London and John Wilson start a new series of recordings of works by Sir William Walton with this album featuring Charlie Lovell-Jones as soloist in the Violin Concerto. Lovell-Jones has soloed with major orchestras internationally, broadcasting on radio and television. As leader of the multi-award-winning Sinfonia of London, he has performed at the BBC Proms and recorded numerous albums, and is the winner of a number of significant international competitions. Commissioned by Jascha Heifetz, the Concerto was premiered in 1939, in America, and was enthusiastically received. Inspired by Walton's friend and lover Alice Wimborne, the work is extremely lyrical and passionate in nature, sporting a wild, virtuosic Tarantella as the second movement.

After the success of the first volume of Walton's film music, producer Christopher Palmer switches focus from Shakespeare to the theme of war. Of course, the justifiably famous "Spitfire Prelude and Fugue" is an obligatory inclusion. Assembled from Walton's music for First of the Few (1942), a biopic about aircraft designer R. J. Mitchell, "Spitfire" was an immediate concert hall success and is presented here in a grand performance. The enterprising Palmer also assembled "A Wartime Sketchbook," a world premiere compendium of selections from The Foreman Went to France (1941) and Next of Kin (1942).

Benjamin Britten - War Requiem / Sinfonia da Requiem / Ballad of Heroes
Heather Harper, Philip Langridge, Martyn Hill, John Shirley-Quirk; London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox
2xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 567 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Chandos # CHSA 5007(2) | Country/Year: UK 1991
Genre: Classical | Style: Contemporary, Sacred, Vocal, Oratorio

"…Hickox's set has achieved the status of a classic for Britten recordings." ~sa-cd.net

In this third volume of Edward Gardner’s Walton series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes leaves his violin to tackle the taxing soloist role in the Viola Concerto.