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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Walton: Belshazzar's Feast, Choral Works & Songs
Walton: | Coronation Te Deum Salisbury Cathedral Choir, Winchester Cathedral Choir & Chichester Cathedral Choir Belshazzar's Feast Benjamin Luxon (baritone) London Philharmonic Choir & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti Jubilate Deo First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston Set me as a seal upon thine heart First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston Where does the uttered music go? First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston Missa Brevis First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston The Twelve First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston A Litany 'Drop, drop slow tears' First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston All this time First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston Make we joy now in this fest First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston What cheer? First release on CD Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table First release on CD Three Sitwell Songs First release on CD Heather Harper (soprano) & Paul Hamburger (piano) |
This 2CD set reveals two sides of Walton, the composer of music for the voice. CD1 features the extravagant side of the composer with multiple choirs and a huge orchestra for swaggering performances of the Coronation Te Deum and Belshazzar’s Feast, both with Sir Georg Solti conducting. CD2, with all items released on CD for the first time, features the more intimate side of the composer, with settings of choral miniatures, from the earliest setting (Drop, drop, slow tears of 1917) up to the 1972 Jubilate. Simon Preston’s LP was released on Argo to mark Walton’s 70th birthday. The remainder of the items come from a L’Oiseau-Lyre LP coupling songs by Walton and Machonchy and performed by Heather Harper. A Song for the Lord Mayor’s Table was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for the first City of London Festival; the texts were chosen by the English dramatist and poet Christopher Hassall and the poems come mostly from 18th-century verse related to London. The collection is rounded off with Walton’s Three Songs to poems by Dame Edith Sitwell date from 1932, all based on the composer’s Façade. “Solti's Belshazzar's Feast is more symphonic than dramatic but monumentally impressive. Preston directs a useful anthology of short choral works.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 **** “Decca have done it again, transferring this highly spectacular choral work [Belshazzar’s Feast] with incredible aplomb. The Coronation Te Deum is hardly less impressive, the choral sound richer textured to suit the occasion, and there is a great bass pedal effect near the end. … Solti has come to Belshazzar's Feast, a great British masterpiece, and in his refreshing way has given it a crisp, international look … It is certainly a most distinctive performance, sharply focused and helped by a recording of superb clarity and brilliance … Indeed the range and bite of the sound here is little short of miraculous” Gramophone Magazine (Belshazzar’s Feast, Coronation Te Deum) “The disc thus gives a panorama of the composer's choral development over five decades … Preston has welded the choir into a most expressive and flexible instrument … The disc does credit to all concerned and will add lustre to the already high standard of Argo recordings in this field.” Gramophone Magazine (CD2: Choral works) “Heather Harper’s singing … is a constant pleasure. Paul Hamburger, a first-rate accompanist who has appeared far too little on records, plays the quite demanding piano parts with great skill and sensitivity” Gramophone Magazine (Songs) | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast & Symphony No. 1
DSD recording, live at the Barbican September 2008 (Belshazzar’s Feast) and September/December 2005 (Symphony No 1) Stereo and multi-channel (5.0). In 2006 LSO Live released Walton’s First Symphony conducted by Sir Colin Davis. The disc received widespread acclaim – it was an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and voted CD of the Year by listeners of BBC Radio 3 CD Review. It is now being re-released, coupled with a new recording of Walton’s spectacular oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast. Walton’s Symphony No 1 and Belshazzar’s Feast, which were written consecutively, helped him consolidate his reputation as the most exciting British composer of his generation. Belshazzar’s Feast, a superbly crafted oratorio, vividly depicts the story of Babylon’s excesses and subsequent downfall, brilliantly coloured by the orchestral forces, including two brass bands. Similarly effervescent, volcanic sentiments simmer beneath the surface of the First Symphony, the music conveying the tensions of the 1930s, whilst remaining timeless in its appeal. LSO Live has recently released Sir Colin’s recording of Verdi’s Otello and the first in a cycle of Nielsen Symphonies. Forthcoming releases include Haydn’s The Seasons. “The LSO Chorus give Walton’s grateful choral writing all they have, and the orchestra revel in his brilliant and unconventional orchestration: E flat clarinet, alto saxophone, exotic percussion and extra brass. Davis, too, proves an absolutely authentic performer. He has come late to this thrilling choral drama on disc, but better that than never.” Sunday Times, 6th March 2011 **** “Davis emphasizes more than usual the operatic element latent in the work and with which he is perhaps more familiar. Isaiah's opening prophecy of disaster is dramatically sung by the excellent chorus...The work springs instantly to life, and the lament of the Psalm setting 'By the waters of Babylon', one of its finest parts, is imbued with a sense of tragedy...Davis draws beautiful playing from the orchestra.” International Record Review, March 2011 “Davis inspires [the LSC] – and baritone soloist Peter Coleman-Wright – to a reading of technical polish, rhythmic energy and evangelical conviction, with a climax strong enough to convince even the doubters. The First Symphony suffers from a more muffled acoustic, but the performance is so gripping – the LSO at its virtuoso best – that you quickly get swept up in it.” Financial Times, 9th April 2011 **** “Sir Colin Davis here reclaims the vigour of youth and harnesses it to his deep understanding of Walton's work. Where others dwell on surface detail, Davis consistently reveals the larger picture: listen, for example, to the 'writing on the wall' scene in Belshazzar, urgent, violent and ultimately cathartic. The LSO carries this music in its DNA and possesses the means to make it live in concert.” Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 ***** “If you like your Walton unleashed at full and scalding voltage, look no further. The [LSO's] trademark virtuosity and panache are so great, and the players' unravelling of Walton's demanding part-writing in the First Symphony so clear, that their performance penetrates straight to the heart of the music...[in Belshazzar] the central 'Feast' and closing 'Hymn of Praise' are each propelled by a rampant percussive firepower...Coleman-Wright is a formidable soloist” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
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| |  | Walton conducts Walton 2
Heritage presents Walton’s first recording of Belshazzar’s Feast, recorded during the Second World War, featuring the baritone soloist Dennis Noble who very much made the work his own. The disc also includes the thrilling Partita and a selection of overtures and marches. | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Walton - Symphony in B flat minor & Belshazzar’s Feast
Two more splendid Nixa recordings with Sir Adrian Boult, now transferred to CD, join last month’s Sibelius disc on SOMM. This symphony is a real landmark of English composition, and combining it with Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast makes this a very collectable disc. The Gramophone review of the original recording referred to the oratorio as a “tour de force” which was “irresistibly exciting”. “Boult's interpretation of the Symphony impresses by dint of its thrusting energy, logic and cumulative grip...there's no missing the infectious commitment here or in Belshazzar's Feast” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010 “[Walton 1] will always sound shocking and new, at least in performances with the nervous energy and searing commitment of this one...Boult’s reading of Belshazzar’s Feast... is hardly less gripping — spiky, frenzied, tense even when tender, with a sort of bony clarity and a clarion soloist in Noble.” Sunday Times, 7th February 2010 *** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Walton conducts Walton
“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 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Last Night of the Proms - the 100th Season
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| |  | Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
“…the choral ensemble is so superb and the recording arguably the clearest and best balanced yet given to this dazzling work with its vast forces.” Gramophone | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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