The music of William Walton

[Bryn]

Has to be a spoof?
But this isn't:

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/.../emi62869a.php

Oh dear. Cuts in the first movement of the Walton. Ouch!

[Nick Armstrong]

Unless this is an elaborate April Fools' jape:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Apr06/Walton1_4574332.htm

You may laugh: I'd buy it!


EDIT: Hold on! The Philharmonia and Legge but issued by Deutsche Grammophon?! Has to be a spoof?
But this isn't:

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/.../emi62869a.php

Awww

But yes - you click on the 'amazon' link by that DG recording blurb and it spatters your screen with 'April Fool',

I never knew about the RAI performance. Why on earth did they make cuts?!?

Nonetheless, that's two new versions I need to get

Expensive thread, this

[PJPJ]

......
In fact, can anyone think of a duff recording of this tremendous work?

It's just that the first Previn has (for me) that little bit extra.

I thought Vernon Handley's first recording very disappointing, though I had it only on a murky sounding LP.

Haitink makes for very rewarding listening (as does his VW and Elgar). I also rate Sargent's recording very highly - for me it is the equal of Previn's, not its ugly sibling - and Boult, Litton, Thomson, Daniel, Mackerras and others.

It is a shame HvK didn't leave an uncut reading recorded.

I've not heard Lille and Hughes recording on BIS, but understand from various reviews the 2nd comes off better than the 1st. And I've never heard Previn's later 1st, either.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh dear. Cuts in the first movement of the Walton. Ouch!

Definitely rules it out as far as I'm concerned.
WHY? AFAIK, Herbie wasn't a snipper in other Symphonic repertoire (ignored Exposition repeats aside)??!! and, yet again,

[Barbirollians]

Cuts ouch indeed !

Szell is a class apart in No 2 I think although I like Previn and Paul Daniel's Naxos recording. Did he ever record No1 ?

[Bryn]

Cuts ouch indeed !

Szell is a class apart in No 2 I think although I like Previn and Paul Daniel's Naxos recording. Did he ever record No1 ?

Szell? Not to my knowledge.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did he ever record No1 ?

Paul Daniel? Yes (with his old band from Opera North, the English Northern Philharmonia):

http://www.allmusic.com/album/william-walton-symphony-no-1-partita-mw0001370217

[Ferretfancy]

Karajan did record Walton 1, and it was available in a 2 CD set of Great Conductors of the 20th Century.

Here's some info from the CD notes.

"Karajan and Legge were regular visitors to Walton's home in Ischia in the early 1950s. It was a roguish alliance.All three were privately amusing yet each was adept at using others for their own purposes.In the end, there was a falling out. Legge invited Karajan to record Walton's truculent, bitter sweet First Symphony. Karajan agreed, but asked Walton to revise the orchestration, which he declined to do. When Karajan did conduct the symphony experimentally as work in progress, so to speak-for Italian Radio in 1953, he made no mention of the fact to Walton, who was predictably furious at missing the broadcast. Yet, as an old man, Karajan always spoke affectionately of Walton, relishing memories of his droll North Country Humour. Likewise Walton never lost his respect for Karajan's musicianship. He revered his Sibelius recordings and his Berlin Philharmonic Ring, not least for the wonderfully balanced sound Karajan drew from the Wagner orchestra "

As you might expect, it's a rather odd performance, not least because I doubt if the Rome Radio orchestra had ever played it before, and the sound isn't very good, nonetheless it's well worth hearing. How fascinating it would have been if Karajan had returned to it with a better orchestra, then we might have got something comparable to his Decca Planets.

I wasn't aware of any cuts,but have not followed it with the score.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How fascinating it would have been if Karajan had returned to it with a better orchestra, then we might have got something comparable to his Decca Planets.

Good point

[Barbirollians]

I must admit to a sneaking fondness for Facade especially in the Sitwell/Pears Collins recording.