Walton: Viola Concerto

“Surely no one has conducted this music better than the composer himself - witness his incisive, account of Symphony No. 1.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 *****

“It is good to welcome a modern recording of Walton's Viola Concerto in its original orchestration. Lawrence Power serves the work superbly, with subtler detail than Lars Ansers Tomter (Naxos, 5/96) and a lighter vibrato than Nobuko Imai adopts (Chandos, 4/93). ...the two Rubbra items here are welcome. The Meditations on a Byzantine Theme, the first recording in the version for unaccompanied viola, makes an apt extra.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2007

“…Lawrence Power's… playing is stunningly precise, crisply articulated and beautifully projected, with no hint of the little scrambles and occasionally pinched tone that beset even quite famous rival recordings.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2007 *****

“In the 21st century, one new name stands out, the British player Lawrence Power, and this disc swiftly tells us why. He’s fleet-fingered. He’s various: the changing hues never stop. He’s effortlessly eloquent with a centred tone across his entire range.” The Times

“It is good to welcome a modern recording of Walton's Viola Concerto in its original orchestration.
When in 1938 Frederick Riddle, principal viola of the LSO, first recorded this seminal work, Walton had yet to slim down the orchestration to make the concerto more accessible.
But even dedicated Waltonians may not notice much difference, particularly when in this fine recording the balance marginally favours the solo instrument. Yet as Leo Black suggests in his booklet-notes, the result 'perhaps conveys to a greater extent the freshness and grittiness of Walton's original conception'.
This was in many ways the breakthrough work in Walton's early career; it brought together in full maturity his distinctive mixture of yearning lyricism and jazzily syncopated writing. Lawrence Power serves the work superbly. Riddle's is arguably still the finest version (Dutton Labs), with speeds marginally faster than modern versions, something approved by Walton. Yet Power is not much slower than Riddle in the Andantecomodo first movement. In the finale differences in timing between Riddle and modern versions is greater, largely because of the final expansive epilogue, which clearly echoes the accompanied cadenzas of Elgar's Violin Concerto.
The two Rubbra items here are welcome. His orchestration in the Concerto is never as clear as Walton's but it suits his musical idiom with its reliance on perfect fourths and other open intervals, as well as plainsong. The Meditations on aByzantine Theme, the first recording in the version for unaccompanied viola, makes an apt extra. All told, a superb disc, much to be welcomed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“RCA's two-disc collection includes the premiere recording of the Cello Concerto with Piatigorsky – who commissioned the work – and the Boston Symphony under Charles Munch. Here is a highpowered reading, given an upfront recording, commendably full and open for 1959. Similarly Heifetz, who commissioned the Violin Concerto, remains supreme as an interpreter of that work, urgent beyond any rival as well as passionate.
Here he plays with the composer conducting the Philharmonia. The 1950 mono recording has been nicely opened up, putting more air around the sound, making the absence of stereo a minimal drawback. The other two concertante works come in digital versions: Kathryn Stott, originally for Conifer, adventurously going back to the original more elaborate version of the Sinfoniaconcertante, and Yuri Bashmet bringing his yearningly Slavonic temperament and masterly virtuosity to the Viola Concerto.
Bashmet's partners are the ideal combination of Previn and the LSO, and it's Previn's vintage version of the First Symphony with the LSO of an earlier generation that sets the seal on the whole package. Previn has never been matched, let alone surpassed. Also remarkable is the clarity, definition and sense of presence of the 1966 recording, with the stereo spectrum more sharply focused than in the digital recordings.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Tomter displays impressive control in the virtuosic Scherzo, but he sounds oddly cautious at more than one point where recklessness and sheer dash would be welcome, and his shifts of tempo are not always totally convincing. Good value, though.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008

“This disc opens with one of the wittiest, most exuberant performances of the JohannesburgFestival Overture: Daniel encourages the orchestra's virtuoso wind and brass soloists to point the jazz rhythms idiomatically, making the music sparkle. The Viola Concerto is just as delectably pointed, the whole performance magnetic.
Tomter's tone, with its rapid flicker-vibrato, lacks the warmth of Kennedy's (reviewed below), but the vibrato is only obtrusive in that upper-middle register and his intonation is immaculate, his attack consistently clean, to match the crisp ensemble of the orchestra.
Although he adopts relatively measured speeds both for the Scherzo and the jaunty opening theme of the finale, the rhythmic lift brings out the scherzando jollity of the latter all the more.
Daniel's keen observance of dynamic markings is again brought out in the stuttering fanfare theme of the Scherzo, with muted trumpets and trombones for once played pianissimo as marked.
The close of the slow epilogue has never been recorded with such a profound hush as here, subsiding in darkness, and the recording team is to be complimented on getting such beautiful sound, clean with plenty of bloom. Paul Daniel adopts a relatively broad tempo in the Symphony's first movement, and the flowing tempo for the central slow movement makes for a lighter, less passionate result too. The finale, with its brassy first statement of the Passacaglia theme, brings fine dynamic contrasts, but again Litton and others produce a fatter, weightier sound, which on balance is preferable. Yet Daniel's view is a very valid one, to round off most convincingly an invaluable addition to the Walton discography.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Having firmly established itself as the leading budget price label, Naxos is now stating a claim to be the major purveyor of British repertoire.” The Times

“Chung's intense Violin Concerto and Neubauer's firm Viola Concerto and Lloyd Webber's oddly matter-of-fact Cello Concerto are coupled with Litton's sometimes too easy-going Symphonies.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

“...orchestral playing that shows real affection for the Romantic Elgar, and the Mediterranean warmth of the Walton.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 **

“…Tatjana Masurenko… reading of Walton's masterpiece combines impressive technical acumen and no mean interpretative flair. The NDR Radiophilharmonie, too, respond with polish and keen vigour for Edinburgh-born Garry Walker… powerfully involving renderings of Britten's wondrous Lachrymae and Sally Beamish's First Concerto of 1995...” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009

“Callus possesses an enviably rich tone, heard to full advantage” The Sunday Telegraph

“Callus has a wonderfully smoky tone and a fine rhetorical flair, and combines brilliance with intensity. In the finale, though she broadens the tempo for the sweeping lyrical second theme much more than Walton directs, weakening he impact of the coda.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008

“Helen Callus, British-born but based in America, plays with sumptuous tone matched by flawless intonation to give the most beautiful account I have ever heard of the Walton Concerto. She brings out the warmth of Walton's lyricism, one memorable theme after another, and finds a rare mystery in the pianissimo passages, above all in the haunting epilogue. Marc Taddei draws playing from the New Zealand orchestra that is warm in the lyricism and incisive in Walton's characteristic syncopations. ...a most beautiful account of the Howells Elegy, orchestra members making up the string quartet set against the solo viola.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006