BaL 12.10.13 - Walton's Violin Concerto

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library:
Piers Burton-Page with a personal recommendation from recordings of Walton's Violin Concerto

Available versions:-

Salvatore Accardo, LSO, Richard Hickox
Sergej Azizian, Copenhagen PO,
Joshua Bell, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman
Thomas Bowes, Malmo SO, Joseph Swenson
Kyung Wha Chung, LSO, Andre Previn
James Ehnes, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey
Ida Haendel, Bournemouth SO, Paavo Berglund
Jascha Heifetz, LSO, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Jascha Heifetz, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir William Walton
Dong-Suk Kong, English Northern Philharmonia, Paul Daniel
Nigel Kennedy, RPO, Andre Previn
Tasmin Little, Bournemouth SO, Andrew Litton
Yehudi Menuhin, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir William Walton
Lydia Mordkovitch, LPO, Jan Latham-Koenig (download)
Kurt Nikkanen, New Haven SO, William Boughton
Berl Senofsky, New Zealand S.O., Sir William Walton

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Kyung Wha Chung, LSO, Andre Previn, if I have to make a choice.

[Alison]

Kennedy and Previn for me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Have three versions with the composer is something to be grateful for.

[Alison]

Oh wow, just noticed it's the matchless Piers Burton-Page. A much needed tonic ! Balm for the soul indeed ...

[Roehre]

Kyung Wha Chung, LSO, Andre Previn, if I have to make a choice.

or either of the Heifetz recordings

[Barbirollians]

Oh wow, just noticed it's the matchless Piers Burton-Page. A much needed tonic ! Balm for the soul indeed ...

Npt sure about that - as he made the remarkable - indeed inexplicable decision to consign Ida Haendel's version of the Britten to the longlist alone - I fear what he might do to this work .

He writes well but his judgment is very questionable in concertos IMO . He gave the dreadful Marwood Schumann Violin Concerto a positive review - one of the very worst records I have ever heard - and the only one I have ever sent back on quality grounds .

Ida H's version is in a class of its own IMO with Heifetz/Sargent and KWC/Previn runners up

[Stanfordian]

Npt sure about that - as he made the remarkable - indeed inexplicable decision to consign Ida Haendel's version of the Britten to the longlist alone - I fear what he might do to this work .

He writes well but his judgment is very questionable in concertos IMO . He gave the dreadful Marwood Schumann Violin Concerto a positive review - one of the very worst records I have ever heard - and the only one I have ever sent back on quality grounds .

Ida H's version is in a class of its own IMO with Heifetz/Sargent and KWC/Previn runners up

HIya Barbirollians, Although I admire the Ida Haendel with the Bournemouth SO/Berglund I am still especially fond of the recording played by Yehudi Menuhin with the New Philharmonia Orchestra/The Composer so drenched with Mediterranean summer
sunshine.

[gurnemanz]

I got to know the work with the classic Kyung Wha Chung. Bell/Zinman/Baltimore won last time and may take some beating. I acquired it on a box set. It's a strong disc which tellingly combines three works from the fateful years 1938-1939.

[pastoralguy]

Ida Haendel for me and here's hoping there isn't a re-run of the Britten violin concerto debacle where she was discounted on the spurious basis that she didn't play the cadenza as Britten wrote it! (As well as some drivel about it not being available easily. Have these people not heard of the internet?! )

[seabright]

I'm a bit puzzled by the references to a Heifetz / Sargent / LSO recording. What date is that? So far I can only find his 1941 recording for RCA Victor (the 'original version' of the score) with the Cincinnati Orchestra under Goossens (issued on Biddulph and again on Naxos) and the later 1950 recording of the revised version with Walton and the Philharmonia for EMI. A date and record label for the Heifetz / Sargent recording would be useful, as I can't seem to find any references by Googling, other than that they recorded the Elgar Violin Concerto together.

[Barbirollians]

As insomnia is in charge tonight I think the confusion comes from the fact that the RCA recording was always coupled with the Heifetz/Sargent Elgar - a mistake I have just repeated .

[BBMmk2]

Kennedy and Previn for me.

The version with the LSO no longer available? Great pity that, as it had the Viola concerto as well.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Are you sure you are not confused here? The RPO recording does have the viola concerto as well.

[BBMmk2]

Really? Thanks EA. I have that recording, so I hope it has the accolade!