Walton: Violin Concerto / Cello Concerto Dong-Suk Kang

• 1Andante tranquillo10:52
• 2Presto capriccioso alla napolitana06:23
• 3Vivace12:08
• 4Moderato09:04
• 5Allegro06:53
• 6Lento - Tema ed improvvisazioni14:35
• Total Runtime59:55

Info for Walton: Violin Concerto / Cello Concerto

In the years between the wars Walton won a succès de scandale with Façade, a collaboration with Edith Sitwell that amused the cognoscenti and shocked wider audiences, before winning an assured if minor position in twentieth century repertoire in its final form, whether as a ballet or in the concert-hall. His dramatic oratorio Belshazzar's Feast, with a text derived by Osbert Sitwell from the Bible, first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1931, was a significant addition to choral repertoire, while the Viola Concerto of 1929 marks a height of lyrical achievement and holds a central place in the viola concerto repertoire. The first of his two symphonies was eventually completed in 1935 and his Violin Concerto four years later. The popular film music of the war years was followed after the war by the operas Troilus and Cressida and the one-act Chekhov extravaganza, The Bear, as well as the Hindemith Variations, Improvisations on an Impromptu by Benjamin Britten and the Cello Concerto and Second Symphony.

Walton wrote his Cello Concerto, a work that he regarded as the best of his three solo concertos, in 1956 in response to a commission from Gregor Piatigorsky. He provided two new endings for the work, after Piatigorsky reported the reservations of Jascha Heifetz, but in the event the original ending was kept when the work was first performed in Boston in January 1957, followed by a performance in London in the following month. In 1975 he provided Piatigorsky with another ending but any performance of this version was prevented by the latter's illness and death. Critical reaction in London was mixed and in some cases distinctly hostile, as a place was sought for contemporary music of another kind. The lyrical first movement allows the soloist a long-spun theme, at first over the plucked notes of the strings. A secondary theme, marked a tempo tranquillo, offers a descending pattern of semi-quavers, against the recurrent opening motif, leading to the eventual return of the principal theme over a repeated flute and oboe accompaniment. The following Allegro appassionato, a scherzo, relaxes briefly into a more lyrical trio that interrupts the headlong course of the music. The concerto ends with a theme and four improvisations. After the slow opening melody the cello leads into a first variation coloured by the use of harp, vibraphone and celesta. The second is for cello alone, marked Risoluto tempo giusto. brioso, to be followed by a fierce Allegro molto. The rhapsodic fourth variation, for cello alone, ends in trills that introduce the final section, with reminiscences of the first movement and the return of the theme.

Walton completed his Violin Concerto early in 1939, much of it written during a stay in Italy with Alice Wimbome, who had largely replaced the Sitwells for him. The work had been commissioned by Heifetz, who gave the first performance in Cleveland, Ohio, in December that year. The first London performance was given in the Royal Albert Hall in November 1941, with Henry Holst as the soloist.

„…the finest discs of William Walton I have yet encountered. It couples the Violin and Cello Concertos in performances that capture the virtuoso and lyrical elements of the works in such perfect proportions. In Paul Daniel this composer has surely found the ideal conductor.“ (David Denton, Fanfare)

'At any price, this version would be a top contender.' (Martin Cotton, BBC Music Magazine)

„…[Tim Hugh] finds a thoughtfulness, a sense of mystery, of inner meditation in Walton's great lyrical ideas... always sounding strong and spontaneous in the face of any technical challenges.

As in their previous Walton recordings, Paul Daniel and the English Northern Philharmonia play with equal flair and sympathy, so that the all-important syncopations always sound idiomatic.

There is a similar balance in the Violin Concerto... Dong-Suk Kang here follows up the success of his Naxos recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto, playing immaculately with fresh, clean-cut tone, pure and true above the stave... Many will also applaud the way that Kang opts for speeds rather faster and more flowing than have latterly been favoured.

An excellent coupling - absolutely not just as a bargain - of two outstanding performances, with the Cello Concerto offering new depths of insight.“ (Gramophone)

Dong-Suk Kang, violin
Tim Hugh, cello
English Northern Philharmonia
Paul Daniel, conductor

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

Booklet for Walton: Violin Concerto / Cello Concerto