BaL 4.03.23 - Walton: Viola Concerto

[smittims]

The Doktor/Downes recording had poor reviews, though a colleague of mine, a Walton fan , thought it excellent. At the time it was issued, and until the appearance of the Menuhin, it was the only available recording in Britain, though the Primrose/Sargent may still have been available in the USA.

As for Nigel Kennedy, I have not heard of him for some time. I remember him best for his phenomenal last-minute appearance at the RFH, standing in for an indisposed Accardo around 1981,and giving a phenomenal, indeed, landmark performance of the Elgar violin concerto. His EMI recording with Vernon Handley followed shortly, but from then on, in my view, it was a sad decline , and his reappearance to play the Elgar atthe Proms some years ago was a mistake, I think.

[Ein Heldenleben]

There was a very good performance of this last night on Radio 3 In Concert by
Tabea Zimmermann (viola) Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra With Ivan Fischer. The work seems to have a place in the European concert repertoire despite Tertis’s aversion to it. It got a very good reception last night and Tabea also played (very well) two encores including a movement from the Hindemith sonata. He of course premiered the work after Tertis’s refusal . It did make me think that quite a few top rate composers had a predilection for and played the instrument - others like Mozart and Britten come to mind.

[Pulcinella]

There was a very good performance of this last night on Radio 3 In Concert by
Tabea Zimmermann (viola) Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra With Ivan Fischer. The work seems to have a place in the European concert repertoire despite Tertis’s aversion to it. It got a very good reception last night and Tabea also played (very well) two encores including a movement from the Hindemith sonata. He of course premiered the work after Tertis’s refusal . It did make me think that quite a few top rate composers had a predilection for and played the instrument - others like Mozart and Britten come to mind.

Really?
We loathed it!
Hated the sound of her instrument, for one thing, but the balance was odd too.
Ah well; glad you enjoyed it.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Really?
We loathed it!
Hated the sound of her instrument, for one thing, but the balance was odd too.
Ah well; glad you enjoyed it.

I thought it was fine. I was reading at the same time so not really giving it my full attention.

[Pulcinella]

I thought it was fine. I was reading at the same time so not really giving it my full attention.

I was reading too, but that was because it didn't attract my full attention!

[smittims]

Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge and JS Bach also played the viola. Maybe it's something to do with its being in the middle of the texture that atracts composers to play it.

It would be interesting to hear Hindemith play it; I don't know if he did, more than once. Some idea of how he might have sounded can be gained from his recording of his own 'Schwanendreher' concerto with Arthur Fiedler.

[Parry1912]

It would be interesting to hear Hindemith play it; I don't know if he did, more than once. Some idea of how he might have sounded can be gained from his recording of his own 'Schwanendreher' concerto with Arthur Fiedler.

When was anything by Hindemith last done on BAL?

[Pulcinella]

When was anything by Hindemith last done on BAL?

Probably ages ago!
We had a Summer BaL on Mathis der Maler (symphony) last year, but didn't get very far with it!

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?24237-Our-Summer-BAL-79-Hindemith-Symphony-quot-Mathis-der-Maler-quot

[Stanfordian]

10.30 am
David Owen Norris chooses his favourite recording of William Walton’s Viola Concerto.

It was conductor Sir Thomas Beecham’s suggestion that Walton should write a viola concerto for the virtuoso Lionel Tertis. But things did not go according to plan when Tertis sent back the music by return of post saying it was ‘too modern’. So the 1929 premiere was given by Paul Hindemith (who had been sent the concerto by the BBC’s Edward Clark) at the Queen’s Hall, just around the corner from Broadcasting House. It was a success and Tertis, in the audience, relented. But although he subsequently played the concerto, Tertis continued to disparage it and was heard to say that Walton had ‘murdered’ the viola.

Despite its inauspicious beginning, Walton’s Viola Concerto has long been recognised as one of his most important early works and is well established a cornerstone of an albeit limited repertoire. Perhaps the root of its appeal is to be found in its dedication ‘to Christabel’, the lyrical melancholy and poetic longing at the concerto’s heart reflecting Walton’s unrequited passion for Christabel, Lady Aberconway.

Available versions:-

Yuri Bashmet, Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, Dmitri Kitayenko

Yuri Bashmet, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn

Helen Callus, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marc Taddei

David Aaron Carpenter, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski

Roberto Diaz, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, William Boughton

Karen Dreyfus, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra (or Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra), Jerzy Swoboda *

James Ehnes, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner (SACD)

Nobuko Imai, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan Latham-Koenig

Nigel Kennedy, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, André Previn

Isabelle van Keulen, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Andrew Manze

Adrien La Marca, Liège Royal Philharmonic, Christian Arming

Paul Neubauer, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton

Lawrence Power, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov

Tatjana Masurenko, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Garry Walker (SACD)

Yehudi Menuhin, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir William Walton

Nils Mönkemeyer, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Markus Poschner

William Primrose, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir William Walton

Frederick Riddle, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir William Walton *

Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad, Oslo Philharmonic, Joshua Weilerstein

Lars Anders Tomter, English Northern Philharmonia, Paul Daniel

Maxim Vengerov, London Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich *

Hong-Mei Xiao, Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, János Kovács

(* = download only)

I have to say that I've never really warmed to Walton's viola concerto in spite of some great recordings notably Maxim Vengerov. It's the Walton violin concerto that I greatly admire, especially with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist and the composer conducting.

[smittims]

Hindemith is one of a number of very good composers who get very short shrift on Radio 3: Alan Rawsthorne and Vagn Holmboe are others, and considering the emphasis they give to female composers, its shameful that they play hardly any Lutyens or Rainier.

Some music by Hindemith appeared in Afternoon Concert in 2013, the 50th anniversary of his death, but not much since. Clearly someone at Radio 3 just doesn't like him.

[Opinionated Knowall]

I remember it in at least two incarnations on CBS: one with Hindemith's Schwanendreher (also LPO/Downes) and the other coupled with Francescatti's performances of the Walton Violin Concerto (on Columbia Odyssey). Extraordinary that it's not been on CD, but some kind soul has uploaded it to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQC6xE6KS34

Thanks so much for the link, makropoulos. Even a dodgy YouTube dub of a less-than-perfect LP would indicate that this recording deserves a new lease of life. Doktor makes a very beautiful sound, with pretty much perfect intonation, and a winning way with the lyrical material. Although it hasn't got the panache of some more recent versions (I just listened to Isabelle Van Keulen, which is super) it has its own authenticity. Incidentally, it got a rave review in H-Fi Stereo Review when it came out. I can't find a Gramophone review, but I do find Gramo's search faciltity rather less-than-facile.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hindemith is one of a number of very good composers who get very short shrift on Radio 3: Alan Rawsthorne and Vagn Holmboe are others, and considering the emphasis they give to female composers, its shameful that they play hardly any Lutyens or Rainier.

Some music by Hindemith appeared in Afternoon Concert in 2013, the 50th anniversary of his death, but not much since. Clearly someone at Radio 3 just doesn't like him.

Suffolkcoastal's recent survey surely disproves such an assertion? ...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Suffolkcoastal's recent survey surely disproves such an assertion? ...

I think SuffolkCoastal’s survey shows that they draw from too narrow a range of female composers. The same could be said of their attitude to male composers. I don’t think there’s any sort of conspiracy. It’s a kind of groupthink - “that piece sounded good I think I’’ll schedule it. “ A look through the list of composers in IMSLP is daunting - there must be any number of good pieces buried in there somewhere . But here comes Ravel’s Bolero and Rach 3 again…
I endorse Smittims cri de coeur re Lutyens not least because I think I made the same point last year!

[jayne lee wilson]

Eliane Radigue would be good for CotW....
Good to see so much attention to Bacewicz now, as with the truly great Gubaidulina and Saariaho before....

(or - smittims - Holmboe and Hindemith for CotW....) big fan of both, as I am of...

Walton's Viola Concerto. For me clearly the best of his concertante works; in a Walton-select top group with Symphony No.1, Belshazzar, and the Hindemith Variations...
I loved the Vengerov/Rostropovich a few years back, c/w an equally refreshed view of the Britten Violin Concerto; must try to revisit...

[frankbridge]

As a Walton fan, I have Nige and Andrew Preview on EMI for years in my collection, and I will stick with that (CDC 749 628-2): I do prefer the viola concerto to the violin one but I know that I'm in a minority here. I did have the great good fortune to turn up at the Albert Hall for a Proms performance of Bashmet and the NYO under Atherton in the eighties, with Shostakovich 7 in the second half. Unbelievable!