Although I admire most British composers active throughout the twentieth century I am often disappointed by Walton. Clearly he was a composer of great talent and the list of his compositions whilst in his twenties and thirties contain a number of masterpieces or near masterpieces. 'Belshazzar's Feast' is an exciting and dramatic oratorio, the 1st symphony is a work of very considerable power and-at times-snarling menace. These are certainly personal favourites. After the war however there just seems to have been a long period of much more modest achievement with few works which resonate long in the memory. I try to like the Cello Concerto(1956) and the 2nd symphony(1960) but there just seems something lacking. Walton's move to take up residence on Ischia in the Bay of Naples supposedly added a 'Mediterranean warmth' to his music but-to my ears-it is more a 'Mediterranean languor', a sort of sleepy laziness. The enormous promise of the young composer seems to have dissipated. The great works which might have been expected from the older composer just don't seem to have been written.
I remember as a boy reacting violently against what my friends and I thought was a national obsession with the music of Benjamin Britten and the neglect of composers like Walton. Now however I do have to admit that Britten was a greater composer and a composer of much more depth.
