Walton: Symphony No. 1 / Violin Concerto
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WILLIAM WALTON
Walton: Symphony No. 1 / Violin Concerto
Tasmin Little (violin) / BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
[ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD ]
Release Date: Sunday 20 April 2014
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Edward Gardner, a Chandos exclusive artist, conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in two great masterpieces byWilliam Walton, his Violin Concerto and the Symphony No. 1.
Walton burst onto the British musical scene in his twenties, the success of works such as Façade, the Viola Concerto, and Belshazzar's Feast establishing him in both the avant-garde and the mainstream of British composers. The obvious next step for Walton was to compose a symphony and he was duly commissioned to do so by Sir Hamilton Harty in 1932. The first complete performance of his Symphony No. 1, in 1935, was a triumph, immediately gaining the work an honoured place in British music which it has never lost. It is a highly virtuosic work with a remarkable expressive range, in turns powerful and broad, malicious, melancholic, and majestic.
The Violin Concerto was written in 1938 in response to a commission from Jascha Heifetz. The solo part reflects not only the legendary virtuosity for which Heifetz was famous, but also the sweetness and purity of his playing of long lyrical lines. In this recording the soloist is Tasmin Little whose acclaimed recordings of concertos by Britten, Elgar, Delius, and Moeran on Chandos have already established her as one of the foremost interpreters of British music for the violin.
"Gardner brings out all the harmonic tension in the music in a reading which never loses momentum, even when Gardner reins back the pace to capture the aching passion of the slower episodes. There's explosive energy a-plenty and no lack of dynamism. This is a compelling coupling of exceptionally fine Walton performances. The Chandos recordings of both performances are superb - I listened in SACD format. Both these performances now become the modern benchmark for the respective works." Recording of the Month MusicWeb May 2014
"Gardner presides over blisteringly eloquent and splendidly unbuttoned accounts of both these Walton masterworks...Heaps to savour and cherish, in sum; certainly, seasoned Waltonians will have a ball. With magnificent truthful sound and judicious balance throughout, this terrific coupling should be snapped up without delay." (Gramophone Award Nomination 2015 - Orchestral)
"Little's way with the virtuoso passages is a notch less headlong than [on her earlier recording], allowing the ear to savour her phenomenal accuracy, yet with no loss of fire...Gardner and the BBC SO provide an accompaniment whose range of detail..is never driven too hard...a masterclass in how to generate formidable dramatic voltage while keeping the music's eruptive energy on a tight rein." (BBC Music Five Stars)
Tracks:
Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor
Violin Concerto
