Sir William Walton

Started by tjguitar, April 16, 2007, 09:15:49 AM

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Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: vandermolen on March 16, 2023, 02:30:57 AMFrom WAYLTN thread:
Walton Symphony No.1
New Haven SO
Cond. William Boughton

A very successful account of this great work.
The oboe passage at the start has just the right fragile quality to it which is essential to my enjoyment of the work (the famous Previn version, while well played, is too 'matter-of-fact' for my liking - I never liked that performance).
Boult (PYE), Sargent, Walton, Harty and Thomson get it just right.




Nice recording! I think W. Walton conducted SY1 with New Zealand Orchestra as well. I forgot how it was.

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on March 16, 2023, 02:52:45 AMNice recording! I think W. Walton conducted SY1 with New Zealand Orchestra as well. I forgot how it was.

Re the Walton 1/New Zealand performance - one of the very few versions of that work I bought and SOLD!! (reach your own verdict!)  Memory is not a great performance and not a great recording......

vandermolen

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on March 16, 2023, 02:52:45 AMNice recording! I think W. Walton conducted SY1 with New Zealand Orchestra as well. I forgot how it was.
Here it is. I rather like all Walton's recordings of the work including the one from the Edinburgh Festival but his EMI studio recording remains my favourite:

"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).

relm1

What is your best recommendation for Belshazzar's Feast?  The only recording I've heard is Rattle/CBSO.  Just curious if I'm missing on something great.

VonStupp

Quote from: relm1 on May 25, 2023, 04:26:59 PMWhat is your best recommendation for Belshazzar's Feast?  The only recording I've heard is Rattle/CBSO.  Just curious if I'm missing on something great.

Previn with Shirley-Quirk!

I also like Willcocks a fair bit too.
VS
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."

Roasted Swan

Quote from: VonStupp on May 25, 2023, 06:24:50 PMPrevin with Shirley-Quirk!

I also like Willcocks a fair bit too.
VS

For sure Previn/LSO/Shirley-Quirk.  Curiously there are a lot of good recordings but not that many great recoridngs.  Its the kind of piece with a big choir and spectacular orchestration that you might think would be a showpiece for any number of conductors/orchestras/labels.  I quite like Andrew Litton's Bournemouth version because it was recorded in Winchester Cathedral and has a real sense of occasion.  Bryn Terfel back in the mid-90's still could just stand and sing magnificently without mannerisms.  Another "big occasion" version turned up on the BBC Music Magazine cover from Andrew Davis, Willard White and the BBC SO forces recorded in Leeds Town Hall - the venue of the 1st performance.  You can find this disc from the usual online marketplaces and its well worth tracking down.  Especially as the coupling is one of the great Tallis Fantasias - this time recorded at its premiere location - Gloucester Cathedral.  So that is one of the few versions of that work recorded in an acoustic, the acoustic that defined the work.  The Belshazzar on this disc is very good, the Tallis is great.

My sorrow with Belshazzar is that apart from a couple of American versions (Ormandy not great  audio, Shaw dull, Abravanel so so) it has never been recorded by a large/good non-British choir and Orchestra.  I could imagine a crack German or East European Choir absolutely nailing it.

vandermolen

I grew up with Ormandy's recording on LP (reissued in the RCA/Sony box set of 'Great British Music'). I like Walton's studio recording as well.
"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).

VonStupp

Quote from: Roasted Swan on May 25, 2023, 10:41:32 PMBryn Terfel back in the mid-90's still could just stand and sing magnificently without mannerisms.  Another "big occasion" version turned up on the BBC Music Magazine cover from Andrew Davis, Willard White and the BBC SO forces.

I see Terfel also sang Belshazzar with Andrew Davis and the BBC in the 90's. I may check it out too!
VS
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."

Irons

Quote from: Luke on March 09, 2023, 01:08:08 AMThe book I am writing, about composers and 'place' in British music, can find little space for Walton as he's generally not a very place-oriented composer. But, when considering why so many composers from the North left it, I did love this little line from him describing his time as a chorister at Christchurch, Oxford. It seems we have 'it's grim up north' to thank for all that wonderful music:
 

If I may be so bold I disagree. I very much associate Walton's music, especially his concertos, with the small island Ischia in the bay of Naples. Walton did not move to Ischia until 1949 but I am convinced he was aware of its beauty and tranquillity long before that - the opening of the Violin Concerto for example. I was fortunate to visit Walton's home in Ischia a few years ago. 
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Luke

Quote from: Irons on May 28, 2023, 06:00:53 AMIf I may be so bold I disagree. I very much associate Walton's music, especially his concertos, with the small island Ischia in the bay of Naples. Walton did not move to Ischia until 1949 but I am convinced he was aware of its beauty and tranquillity long before that - the opening of the Violin Concerto for example. I was fortunate to visit Walton's home in Ischia a few years ago.

Absolutely right. I should have phrased it more carefully - I was talking about places in Britain. And I agree on the Violin Concerto. It always gets seen as inferior to the Viola Concerto. It probably is. But its specifically Mediterranean lushness and spice is so seductive that when I'm listening to it I always feel they are equals.

Luke

....and maybe Walton did 'predict' Ischia in the Violin Concerto (though I think it might be a more generally Mediterranean thing). After all, he did 'predict' DSCH in the Viola Concerto, years before Dmitri himself used the cipher.

Roasted Swan

Quote from: vandermolen on May 26, 2023, 01:48:17 AMI grew up with Ormandy's recording on LP (reissued in the RCA/Sony box set of 'Great British Music'). I like Walton's studio recording as well.

I re-listened to the Ormandy/Belshazzar yesterday - and I realise I was too dismissive of it the other day.  The actual engineering is really very good indeed for a recording over 60 years old - lots of detail and weight and a good stereo picture too.  I like the university choir - energetic and engaged and they sound youthful.  Baritone Walter Cassel has a nice voice too but although the sound is good his characterisation is pretty plain.  He reminded me of the Howard Keel in a Rodgers & Hammerstain musical.  Its a nice full sound but more concerned about the beauty of that sound than using the voice to pursue the work's drama.

This might be the kind of recording where Ormandy is criticised for being for a perfectly good, solid interpretation but with no special insights.  Of course the orchestra play very well and the performance is dynamic.  So I'd promote it up my list of Belshazzars but it supports my initial premise that there are a lot of "good" Belshazzars but few that are truly "great".

vandermolen

#792
Quote from: Roasted Swan on June 04, 2023, 03:09:46 AMI re-listened to the Ormandy/Belshazzar yesterday - and I realise I was too dismissive of it the other day.  The actual engineering is really very good indeed for a recording over 60 years old - lots of detail and weight and a good stereo picture too.  I like the university choir - energetic and engaged and they sound youthful.  Baritone Walter Cassel has a nice voice too but although the sound is good his characterisation is pretty plain.  He reminded me of the Howard Keel in a Rodgers & Hammerstain musical.  Its a nice full sound but more concerned about the beauty of that sound than using the voice to pursue the work's drama.

This might be the kind of recording where Ormandy is criticised for being for a perfectly good, solid interpretation but with no special insights.  Of course the orchestra play very well and the performance is dynamic.  So I'd promote it up my list of Belshazzars but it supports my initial premise that there are a lot of "good" Belshazzars but few that are truly "great". I
Quote from: Roasted Swan on June 04, 2023, 03:09:46 AMI re-listened to the Ormandy/Belshazzar yesterday - and I realise I was too dismissive of it the other day.  The actual engineering is really very good indeed for a recording over 60 years old - lots of detail and weight and a good stereo picture too.  I like the university choir - energetic and engaged and they sound youthful.  Baritone Walter Cassel has a nice voice too but although the sound is good his characterisation is pretty plain.  He reminded me of the Howard Keel in a Rodgers & Hammerstain musical.  Its a nice full sound but more concerned about the beauty of that sound than using the voice to pursue the work's drama.

This might be the kind of recording where Ormandy is criticised for being for a perfectly good, solid interpretation but with no special insights.  Of course the orchestra play very well and the performance is dynamic.  So I'd promote it up my list of Belshazzars but it supports my initial premise that there are a lot of "good" Belshazzars but few that are truly "great".
For many years the Ormandy version, on LP, was the only version that I heard. I like the Rutgers University Chorus and also the American accents for some reason.
PS I'm having trouble with the 'quote facility'


"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).