Walton's Own First Symphony

[maestrob]

Have just finished listening to Walton's own recording (1951 Philharmonia) of his First Symphony, and, well walked away saying "not bad for a first effort."

1) Tympani dampened and placed as far away from the microphone as possible, in order to avoid groove distortion in the final product. Dramatically disappointing, but not unexpected and not the composer's fault.

2) Where I can fault him, though, is in a slightly too fast tempo for the presto, con malizia movement, which affects articulation. Also, in the first movement, Walton tends to push tempo here and there on accent marks, making for articulation problems.

3) In the final movement, again I have the feeling of a pushed tempo here and there, especially at the very end which is far too rushed to give it the grandeur it so richly deserves. IOW, Walton glosses over details, moments that work better if the orchestra is given just a bit more time here and there.

All in all, while interesting, there have been better performances, including Haitink, Previn and Bryden Thomson.

[Heck148]

Have just finished listening to Walton's own recording (1951 Philharmonia) of his First Symphony, and, well walked away saying "not bad for a first effort." .....All in all, while interesting, there have been better performances, including Haitink, Previn and Bryden Thomson.

PrevinI with LSO from the 60s is the top one for me - one of the great recordings of any symphony - the LSO is in top form - and playing right "at the edge" - incredible excitement and alertness....they are right at the front of the beat, throughout...
wonderful, powerful performance.

[Chalkperson]

.......Where I can fault him, though.......

Nobody Criticizes a Composer's Conducting better than a Conductor...

[absinthe]

PrevinI with LSO from the 60s is the top one for me - one of the great recordings of any symphony - the LSO is in top form - and playing right "at the edge" - incredible excitement and alertness....they are right at the front of the beat, throughout...
wonderful, powerful performance.

It's with sincere thanks that Walton finally managed to write a last movement - the Previn (the RCA recording, not the later Telarc: I agree with you 100%) leaves me drained by the end of the 3rd movement and the 4th manages to restore the energy! Well, a bit...

[stenka razin]

The Walton EMI is very fine. But, there is an even better performance with Walton conducting live from the 1959 Edinburgh Festival and on a BBC CD. The orchestra is the BBC Symphony and this CD includes a ravishing performance of his great oratorio 'Belshazzars Feast'.
I concur with the recommendation for Previn EMI, too.

[Jared]

A Question:

Has anyone heard the 4CD boxed set of Walton's major orchestral works, produced by Decca in 1992 to commemorate the centenary of the composer's birth? It is with Andrew Litton & the Bournemouth Symphony Orch? It has been held up as a strong effort, but I've not heard it (as yet):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walton-Centenar ... 871&sr=1-1


An Observation:

As is the BBC Music Mag's tradition, next month, they are celebrating the beginning of Proms Season, and their cover CD is Walton: Symph 1, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult in 1975... on sale 9th July in UK. Last year's Proms CD contained Walton's Viola Concerto, so he must be 'en vogue' at present...

[val]

I have the version of Andrew Litton with the Bournemouth Orchestra. It is good, very dramatic, with a great sense of the contrasts.

The CD I have includes the cello concerto - to me, much more interesting than the First Symphony - in a splendid interpretation of Robert Cohen.

[Jared]

thanks for the post, Val... I was beginning to think this one had slipped through...

I'll look forward to hearing the Litton, in due course..

[stenka razin]

Just in.......BBC magazine in their upcoming August issue has a BBC live performance from 1975 with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Get that issue for this extraodinary CD discovery. You don't think of Boult when you think of Walton.

[absinthe]

Thanks for that advice. It should be interesting because Boult only made one studio recording of the work in 1957, if my memory serves me.

cheers!

[maestrob]

Just in.......BBC magazine in their upcoming August issue has a BBC live performance from 1975 with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Get that issue for this extraodinary CD discovery. You don't think of Boult when you think of Walton.

Actually, Sir Adrian made the first commercial recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast back in 1954 with the London Philharmonic Orch & Choir.



Also there's this:

[maestrob]

A while back, I posted my musings on Walton's own recording (1951) of his First Symphony, indicating that I was not pleased with the result, although it made for an interesting historical document. I have since had delivered into my eagerly awaiting mailbox, the BBC reissue of Walton's own live recording made in 1959. Thankfully, here he is much more confident as a conductor, and one can hear in many places that he has learned a great deal from others interpreting this fine work. (It's coupled with a compelling STEREO version (1965) of Belshazzar's Feast that really puts one on the edge of one's seat.)

Thus, Walton's second attempt at his First Symphony corrects the too-fast tempo for the Presto, allows more breathing room in the first movement, and makes III much more lyrical and intense. Where Walton still doesn't quite get it is in the last movement, where he slows down the finale too much looking for grandeur, and the music just goes quite dead, IMHO. Pacing is everything, and he just doesn't quite have it right, perhaps overcompensating for a too fast rendition of the same passage in his first effort.

IOW, the learning process here is fascinating, comparing the two recordings gives one much knowledge of how this problematic symphony should go.

For the record, Previn, Haitink & Bryden Thomson all get it right for me: all 3 do better than the composer.

[Jared]

BBC Music Mag 'Proms Special' has arrived... complete with Walton disk and Proms diary wall poster...

ok, so I'm easily pleased...

[Ken]

Previn aside, who is Walton's current largest champion on the podium?

...Rattle?
...Paul Daniel?

[maestrob]

Mackerras, Colin Davis, haven't heard Rattle, & don't think I want to.

Then there's this curiosity:

[bombasticDarren]

BBC Music Mag 'Proms Special' has arrived... complete with Walton disk and Proms diary wall poster...

ok, so I'm easily pleased...

While you're on the subject Jared; will you be attending any Proms this season?

[Jared]

BBC Music Mag 'Proms Special' has arrived... complete with Walton disk and Proms diary wall poster...

ok, so I'm easily pleased...

While you're on the subject Jared; will you be attending any Proms this season?

almost certinly no, Darren, although I'm hoping to get to a couple of more local concerts... Islington Choral Soc are performing Stanford's 'Songs Of The Fleet' in King's Lynn next Monday, which I'm hoping to get along to...