William Walton's Cello Concerto (1957) is the third and last of the composer's concertos for string instruments, following his Viola Concerto (1929) and Violin Concerto (1939). It was written between February and October 1956, commissioned by and dedicated to the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, the soloist at the premiere in Boston on 25 January 1957. Initial responses to the work were mixed. Some reviewers thought the work old-fashioned, and others called it a masterpiece. Piatigorsky predicted that it would enter the international concert repertoire, and his recording has been followed by numerous others by soloists from four continents. (Wikipedia)
"Thanks to Christopher Palmer and his invaluable delving into the Walton archive, turning what are often scraps of material into finished concert works, this CD of Walton film music brings more treasure. The music of Richard III remains fairly well known, but this Shakespeare scenario in ten movements provides a different perspective. The whole record is a delight, and the brief six-minute Macbeth item is particularly welcome. Walton wrote his incidental music at high speed, taking only a week over it. Palmer has made an A-B-A piece from some crypto-Elizabethan dance music (the banquet scene), a fanfare and centrally the Funeral March for the Eight Kings. The pre-echoes of Henry V are fascinating, and the Major Barbara music too (dating from a year earlier, 1941) brings vintage Walton material, with hints of Onward, Christian Soldiers and shades of Belshazzar. With Marriner and the Academy giving ripely committed performances, this is another feast for Waltonians." (Gramophone)
Walton did not himself arrange his score for the film 'Henry V' for the concert hall. The music was for years known mainly from two suites. In 1988 Christopher Palmer prepared the comprehensive 'Musical scenario after Shakespeare, for speaker, chorus and orchestra'. Walton's score uses a standard-sized orchestra, with the unusual addition of a harpsichord. Since the manuscript and orchestral parts are now mostly lost, Palmer based his reconstruction on surviving fragments and on the two suites. The rest had to be transcribed by ear from the film. Palmer expanded Walton's instrumentation slightly and excluded a few short linking and repetitious passages. And he added the march that Walton wrote in 1959 for a planned TV series based on Churchill's 'A history of the English-Speaking Peoples'. The result was an extremely effective reconstruction and conflation, showing that Walton's music for 'Henry V' was substantial and varied enough to sustain a large-scale structure of its own in the concert hall. (bron: BBC)
Opname: 2008
Onze website en deze zoekfunctie is vernieuwd en we werken er op dit moment hard aan om de laatste puntjes op de i te zetten. Mis je bepaalde functionaliteiten, dan vind je hieronder tijdelijk nog de link naar oude zoekfunctie.
