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Author Topic: Sir William Walton  (Read 42183 times)

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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #120 on: January 07, 2015, 02:26:42 PM »
Quote from: ritter on January 07, 2015, 02:04:10 PM
I should revisit the Sinfonia concertante...but for today, my Walton session (the Viola concerto, followed by--as reported in the WAYLTN thread--Anon in love and A Song for the Lord Mayor's table) comes to an end with this little jewel as a sort of encore:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/eX4vWSHhdIw" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/eX4vWSHhdIw</a>

Good night, vandermolen, John, and all fellow GMGers!

When I tapped on the image the screen just went blank, but many thanks and good night from me too.  :)
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Offline Mirror Image

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #121 on: January 07, 2015, 03:24:29 PM »
Quote from: ritter on January 07, 2015, 02:04:10 PM
I should revisit the Sinfonia concertante...but for today, my Walton session (the Viola concerto, followed by--as reported in the WAYLTN thread--Anon in love and A Song for the Lord Mayor's table) comes to an end with this little jewel as a sort of encore:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/eX4vWSHhdIw" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/eX4vWSHhdIw</a>

Good night, vandermolen, John, and all fellow GMGers!

Very nice, ritter. Good night to you as well.
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Offline Mirror Image

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #122 on: January 08, 2015, 10:06:48 PM »
Agh...I never got around to listening to the Viola Concerto, but I will later on. I have pulled the Power/Volkov performance from my collection. The Rubbra works will be of interest to me as well.
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #123 on: January 09, 2015, 05:08:58 AM »
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 08, 2015, 10:06:48 PM
Agh...I never got around to listening to the Viola Concerto, but I will later on. I have pulled the Power/Volkov performance from my collection. The Rubbra works will be of interest to me as well.

Am sure you'll enjoy it John.
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Offline Rons_talking

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #124 on: February 26, 2015, 11:06:05 AM »
Quote from: vandermolen on January 07, 2015, 11:27:48 AM
Anyone else think that Walton's Viola Concerto is a better work than the more popular and more often recorded Violin Concerto?

How about the Cello Concerto? It was a favorite of mine when I had it on vinyl. I'll revisit the other concerti this afternoon (and put off exercise).
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #125 on: February 26, 2015, 11:55:50 AM »
Quote from: Rons_talking on February 26, 2015, 11:06:05 AM
How about the Cello Concerto? It was a favorite of mine when I had it on vinyl. I'll revisit the other concerti this afternoon (and put off exercise).

Fine work - I like the Tortelier recording with Paavo Berglund conducting I think.
Here it is in a fine inexpensive set as the Mackerras version of Symphony 1 is excellent too:


« Last Edit: February 26, 2015, 12:00:52 PM by vandermolen »
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Offline Rons_talking

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #126 on: February 27, 2015, 02:19:17 AM »
Quote from: vandermolen on February 26, 2015, 11:55:50 AM
Fine work - I like the Tortelier recording with Paavo Berglund conducting I think.
Here it is in a fine inexpensive set as the Mackerras version of Symphony 1 is excellent too:



Wow! You must have a huge record collection! I can't afford to buy multiple recordings of the same work; or rather, I prefer to get something I don't already have. So it's pretty much Naxos all the way down. I live on a remote island near the Alaska panhandle so shopping can get inconvenient (I'll be here for another two years...)

I'm very impressed with the 2nd S. as well. I streamed the 1947 SQ as well and that's a terrific piece. All too often composers fall into the pattern of writing overly contrapuntal and chromatic string quartets...as if that's the only sound that can be conveyed through the group. Like Barber and RVW, Walton makes good use of lyricism and rhythm in the quartet.
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #127 on: February 27, 2015, 06:35:46 AM »
Quote from: Rons_talking on February 27, 2015, 02:19:17 AM
Wow! You must have a huge record collection! I can't afford to buy multiple recordings of the same work; or rather, I prefer to get something I don't already have. So it's pretty much Naxos all the way down. I live on a remote island near the Alaska panhandle so shopping can get inconvenient (I'll be here for another two years...)

I'm very impressed with the 2nd S. as well. I streamed the 1947 SQ as well and that's a terrific piece. All too often composers fall into the pattern of writing overly contrapuntal and chromatic string quartets...as if that's the only sound that can be conveyed through the group. Like Barber and RVW, Walton makes good use of lyricism and rhythm in the quartet.

I have over 20 recordings of Walton's 1st Symphony - it is know as Obsessive-Compulsive CD Collecting Disorder (OCCDCD). There is a thread on it in the 'Diner' section. Your approach is far more sensible and cost-effective. The Paul Daniel Naxos recording is very fine.
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Offline Rons_talking

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #128 on: February 27, 2015, 08:06:06 AM »
Ah! A symphony hoarder! Good thing it's not cigars...
Do you have the scores as well? I like to see just how true to the page the performers are. I believe a lot of composers get a better sounding performance than what's written if a work is performed across the board. That might sound blasphemous but they can lose sight of what is intended and the score might be micro-managed. Look at Stravinsky's super-dry performances of the early ballets (when he conducted them in the 50s) which were supposed to be a bit more lush IMO.
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #129 on: February 27, 2015, 09:47:52 AM »
Quote from: Rons_talking on February 27, 2015, 08:06:06 AM
Ah! A symphony hoarder! Good thing it's not cigars...
Do you have the scores as well? I like to see just how true to the page the performers are. I believe a lot of composers get a better sounding performance than what's written if a work is performed across the board. That might sound blasphemous but they can lose sight of what is intended and the score might be micro-managed. Look at Stravinsky's super-dry performances of the early ballets (when he conducted them in the 50s) which were supposed to be a bit more lush IMO.

No, I don't have the scores as I cant read music.  :(
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

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Offline Christo

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #130 on: February 27, 2015, 01:41:42 PM »
Quote from: vandermolen on February 27, 2015, 06:35:46 AM
The Paul Daniel Naxos recording is very fine.

Side remarks like this are not without risks to the lives of innocently bypassing readers, here. Am playing it now.  :)
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… music is not only an 'entertainment’, nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Offline Peter Power Pop

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #131 on: February 27, 2015, 04:45:34 PM »
Quote from: vandermolen on February 27, 2015, 06:35:46 AM
I have over 20 recordings of Walton's 1st Symphony - it is know as Obsessive-Compulsive CD Collecting Disorder (OCCDCD). There is a thread on it in the 'Diner' section.

The thread is here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,15426.0.html

It started out as "Compulsive Disassociative CD Collecting Disease" (CDCDCD), but morphed into "Obsessive-Compulsive CD Collecting Disorder" (OCCDCD).
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #132 on: February 28, 2015, 04:15:40 AM »
Quote from: Peter Power Pop on February 27, 2015, 04:45:34 PM
The thread is here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,15426.0.html

It started out as "Compulsive Disassociative CD Collecting Disease" (CDCDCD), but morphed into "Obsessive-Compulsive CD Collecting Disorder" (OCCDCD).

They are closely related medical conditions.
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #133 on: February 28, 2015, 04:16:08 AM »
Quote from: Christo on February 27, 2015, 01:41:42 PM
Side remarks like this are not without risks to the lives of innocently bypassing readers, here. Am playing it now.  :)
8)
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

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Offline Dax

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #134 on: February 28, 2015, 07:57:20 AM »
I'm not particularly a Walton fan, but I've always had a lot of time for the Johannesburg Festival Overture. Anybody else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1gQhemb5L4
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #135 on: February 28, 2015, 12:45:03 PM »
Quote from: Dax on February 28, 2015, 07:57:20 AM
I'm not particularly a Walton fan, but I've always had a lot of time for the Johannesburg Festival Overture. Anybody else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1gQhemb5L4

Yes, I like that work too. I have the version conducted by Sir Charles Groves:

« Last Edit: February 28, 2015, 12:47:18 PM by vandermolen »
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

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Offline Rons_talking

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #136 on: March 01, 2015, 05:44:10 PM »
Quote from: vandermolen on February 27, 2015, 09:47:52 AM
No, I don't have the scores as I cant read music.  :(

That's not important. It's just that you think like a conductor ;).  How do you compare Walton's own performances with those of others? Copland is the one composer whom I tend to prefer his own conducting to those of the pros. Performers I know have said he's so likable they just wanted to get their best sound. I never saw him live, unfortunately.
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Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #137 on: March 02, 2015, 09:15:13 AM »
Quote from: Rons_talking on March 01, 2015, 05:44:10 PM
That's not important. It's just that you think like a conductor ;).  How do you compare Walton's own performances with those of others? Copland is the one composer whom I tend to prefer his own conducting to those of the pros. Performers I know have said he's so likable they just wanted to get their best sound. I never saw him live, unfortunately.

Thank you  :)

Actually I did see Copland conduct Roy Harris's Third Symphony in London decades ago. I love Copland's music but did not think that the performance of the Harris was that great. I think that Copland was a great conductor of his own work and his Everest recording of Symphony 3 with the LSO is perhaps the best. For some reason he recorded a lot of his works with British orchestras. I think that the Everest recording has much more urgency than the later CBS version and is much better than Bernstein's Sony version.
As for Walton he was a fine conductor of his own music and I really like his live recording of Symphony 1 with the New Zealand SO and his account of the Henry V film music is the best too.
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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

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Offline Christo

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #138 on: March 02, 2015, 10:46:02 AM »
Quote from: sanantonio on March 02, 2015, 09:27:21 AM
One of my favorite classical miniatures.
Seconded. Always found the 'two pieces' from Henry V, the passacaglia and this little elegy, extremely moving. Bach revidivimus.  :)
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… music is not only an 'entertainment’, nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Online vandermolen

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Re: Sir William Walton
« Reply #139 on: March 03, 2015, 07:46:26 AM »
Quote from: Christo on March 02, 2015, 10:46:02 AM
Seconded. Always found the 'two pieces' from Henry V, the passacaglia and this little elegy, extremely moving. Bach revidivimus.  :)
This is one of my very favourite Walton discs and the one I find most moving apart from the First Symphony. Not to be missed in my view.

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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).
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