EMI has been in the business of recording music pretty much since
that business first emerged. As a result they have accumulated a rather
impressive archive of material, much of which can be as valuable to the
informed listener as it is to the serious student. One of the more
interesting offerings of material from this archive is now available in
as a 2-CD set. The package provides an excellent opportunity to hear a
broad selection of the orchestral music of William Walton conducted by
the composer; and, not surprisingly, it has been released under the
title Walton Conducts Walton.
The selection includes two concertos (for violin and viola, both with
Yehudi Menuhin as soloist), one symphony (his first), a partita for
orchestra, and the single-movement oratorio, "Belshazzar's Feast." For
those interested in size, that comes to slightly more than two and a
half hours of music; and, since Walton tended to be at his best when
working with a full orchestra (even in his film scores, such as the ones
he composed for Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare films), the selection
presents him in an excellent light.
Curiously enough, the
historical scope of this selection is bookended by a single
composition. The viola concerto was completed in 1929 but then revised
in 1961. This work is also one of the most interesting of the offerings
in the package. It was intended for the great Lionel Tertis (whose
viola students included Rebecca Clarke, whose viola sonata was performed
at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music last week),
who then returned the score to Walton for being "too modern." As a
result, the premiere was performed by Paul Hindemith (whose own viola
sonata was performed at that same Conservatory recital). Tertis would
eventually perform Walton's concerto; but, at least according to the
notes provided by Michael Kennedy, he never really "got it." The
Menuhin recording (which is of the revised version) was made in 1968;
and his chemistry with Walton seems to have been excellent. I was first
exposed to the final movement of this concerto through a master class
given at the Conservatory by Misha Amory last March.
Amory tended to focus on the wit of that movement, which I had
encountered in many other Walton compositions; and Menuhin brought that
wit to a more enhanced life through its contrast with the opening
movement and the rapid-fire scherzo.
The composition in the EMI
selection most likely to be familiar to San Francisco audiences is
"Belshazzar's Feast," since it was performed by the San Francisco
Symphony and Chorus under Vladimir Ashkenazy last March. While I try to avoid superlatives, it would not surprise me if history were to remember this as the
quintessential English-language oratorio of the twentieth century, if
not the major oratorio of the century in any language, since the form
was not particularly popular. The work is a feast of orchestral color
and rich choral writing that moves forward at a rapid pace, thanks to a libretto
by Osbert Sitwell that concentrates on the narrative thread, leaving
the reflective texts for prologue and epilogue. While, with all of
these resources, there may be no substitute for attending a performance
of this work, the EMI recording team did an admirable job of capturing
far more of it than one might expect from 1959 technology. (My guess is
that Walton himself had a hand in the success of the recording through
his own scrupulous sense of balance.)
Back in my student days
Walton received a fair amount of attention. Unfortunately, he seems to
have gone out of fashion, with Ashkenazy's programming being more
exception than rule. This music does not deserve such neglect; and the
best possible case for it may well be made by Walton's own performances
of it. Here's hoping that, with this new release, EMI will contribute
to a revived interest in Walton's music!
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