The Violin Concerto is the second of Walton’s three string concertos. The productive influence of other composers can be felt at various points: Prokofiev, Hindemith and especially Elgar, whose own Violin Concerto was clearly the inspiration for the finale’s accompanied cadenza. Throughout the work, often without warning, lyrical contemplation may yield to spiteful aggression, melancholic introspection to choleric rage. Temperamentally, too, it displays Latinate volatility, with capricious changes of mood at every turn. It is suffused with Italianate warmth and a lyrical, singing quality reflecting not only the influence of bel canto opera, but, perhaps even more prominently, Italian popular song. Ever since he first visited the country as an 18-year-old, Italy had been Walton’s spiritual home and the concerto undoubtedly reflects this love. The initial stages of the work’s composition had taken place in 1938, in Ravello, Italy, where Alice Wimborne, his partner at the time, had taken Walton to recover from surgery. But by the time of the premiere, in December of that year, with Artur Rodziński conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, Britain was at war and Walton was unable to risk the crossing to the USA to hear it. In May 1939 Walton made a short visited to the USA to work with Heifetz on refining details in the solo part. The Violin Concerto was commissioned by the great virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, whom Walton had first met in 1936. 1 – on which, combined with the present concerto and a few shorter works, Walton’s reputation securely rests. Nevertheless, the previous decade had seen the emergence of the three large-scale masterpieces – the Viola Concerto, Belshazzar’s Feast and the Symphony No. Considering the agonisingly slow pace at which he habitually worked, it is perhaps an exaggeration to say that he was at the height of his compositional powers at the time. Walton composed his Violin Concerto in 19.
Presto capriccioso alla napolitana – Trio (Canzonetta) – Tempo I.Hungarian march : Rakoczy (4:10) / Hector Berlioz. Mineut : Will-o'-the- wisps (5:56) Interlude : Ballet of the sylphs (2:42). 803 / Franz Schubert (Robert Marcellus, clarinet Myron Bloom, horn George Goslee, bassoon with string quintet) (62:34). Missa solemnis / Ludwig van Beethoven (Saramae Endich, soprano Florence Kopleff, contralto Ernst Haefliger, tenor Ezio Flagello, bass The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus) (76:38). Violin concerto / William Walton (Zino Francescatti, violin) (28:27). 3 : pastoral symphony / Alberto Ginastera (19:10) -Ĭinq métaboles / Henri Dutilleux (16:05). Music for a scene from Shelley / Samuel Barber (9:00). Siegfried's funeral march (8:53) Immolation scene (Margaret Harshaw, soprano) (18:34) / Richard Wagner. Prelude (11:26) Love-death (Margaret Harshaw, soprano) (7:05) Götterdämmerung. Overture (14:13) Dich, teure Halle (Margaret Harshaw, soprano) (3:10) Tristan and Isolde. 7, in B-Messuhallissa in Helsinki.ħ audio discs (8 hr., 36 min.) : digital, stereo 4 3/4 in. Recorded live in concert at Severance Hall, Cleveland, 1956-1969, except Sibelius' Symphony no. 7 (on disc 5)-and the interviews (disc 7) recorded in mono.īooklet contains historical and program notes, Szell's obituary reprinted from the New York Times, and texts of vocal works with English translation.Ĭleveland Orchestra George Szell, conductor.