William Walton (1902 – 1983)

Scapino; Cello Concerto; Symphony No. 1
Jonathan Aasgaard (cello)
Sinfonia of London - John Wilson

Chandos CHSA 5328
Recorded in Surround Sound, and
available as a Hybrid SACD and in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio

chandos.net

John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London deliver performances of colossal grandeur in this outstanding survey of Walton's orchestral mastery.

It is a terrific album. Anyone glancing at the cover would immediately recognise the magnificent Sinfonia of London—how could one not adore their performances? Once again conducted by maestro John Wilson, here joined by cellist Jonathan Aasgaard in Walton's Cello Concerto.

Wilson, as I've noted in previous reviews, approaches each score with forensic attention to detail, exploring every textural nook and cranny to ensure nothing escapes notice. On this disc, nothing is glossed over; instead, we're treated to interpretations of wonderful insight and clarity.

The album opens with Walton's comedy overture Scapino, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. The music, inspired by an etching in Jacques Callot's Balli di Sfessania (1622)—which is reproduced on the published score's cover and depicts Scapino in his traditional costume— fizzes and sizzles with rhythmic energy. The orchestra delivers showy colours that whizz along with irresistible élan.

Walton's star had waned somewhat during the 1950s, following the poor reception of his opera Troilus and Cressida and equally negative comments greeting his Cello Concerto, widely dismissed at the time as embarrassingly old-fashioned in its essentially neo-Romantic idiom. Commissioned by Gregor Piatigorsky (at Heifetz's suggestion), the work received its première in Boston under Charles Munch in January 1957, with the UK première under Sir Malcolm Sargent following a month later. Walton was unable to attend that concert, having been hospitalised following a car accident on the journey to London from his Italian home. Now widely perceived as one of Walton's most important late scores, it receives from Jonathan Aasgaard a polished, nimble, and virtuosic performance, beautifully conveyed and accompanied by the Sinfonia's characteristic radiance.

It's been far too long since I've heard the First Symphony, largely inspired by the composer's tempestuous love affair with the widowed Baroness Imma von Doernberg, whom Walton met in 1929 and with whom he was living on the Continent in the early 1930s. Although the work endured a protracted gestation—with particular delays in composing the finale—the result was universally acclaimed as an outstanding success.

Wilson brings thrilling panache to this reading, communicating with agility and skill the underlying emotional tensions of the work. The orchestral balance is perfectly captured by Chandos's engineers, especially in the beautiful slow movement with its lovely conclusion that subsides into the Maestoso finale, which sparkles with a glorious kaleidoscope of sound resonating with characteristic Walton swagger.

This is an excellent, fresh interpretation that proves John Ireland's prophetic assessment: only a bloody fool could possibly fail to recognise Walton's vital and original genius in this music.