Sir William Walton (1902–1983)
Symphonic Suite from ‘Troilus and Cressida’ (arr. Christopher Palmer)
Violin Concerto
Overture: Portsmouth Point
Charlie Lovell-Jones (violin)
Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
rec. 2024, Church of St Augustine, Kilburn, London
Reviewed as a download
Chandos CHSA5360 SACD [63]

I make this the twentieth release on Chandos for the Sinfonia of London where they are in the spotlight and conducted by John Wilson. In truth, you could argue there have been a couple more, as they played on an operatic-arias disc (Linda Richardson) and a DVD of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw too. This has all happened since the Summer of 2019 (and that included enforced gaps due to the pandemic). It is a meteoric discographic achievement and a real investment on behalf of Chandos.

I am lucky to have most of their output so far, so I was looking forward to their new Walton disc, especially as it includes music from Troilus and Cressida. Walton worked seriously hard on his grand Romantic opera for seven years solid and it was finally performed in December 1954 at Covent Garden. It has a fascinating history in the run up to that first production and its subsequent revivals. Walton never got around to extracting music from it for the concert hall, but many believe he would and indeed should have, had he had the time and inclination. Christopher Palmer, who eventually crafted this symphonic suite in 1987, believes he would have undoubtedly gone the way of Hindemith with Mathis der Maler or Prokofiev with The Fiery Angel and symphonised it.

Brydon Thomson was first to record the work for Chandos in 1989 and it was done more recently on Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s DG disc with her CBSO. The first movement, The Trojans, features the lovely oboe solo depicting Cressida’s first appearance. This theme is shaped lovingly in this performance. John Wilson and his superb band of musicians are masters of this singing, vivid, almost cinematic style and really make their experience tell.

The second movement is a scherzo and trio. The playful, good-natured broker Pandarus (sung by a show-stealing Peter Pears in the premiere) is featured. The trio is based on Cressida’s aria “At the haunted end of the day”. Wilson’s skittish rhythms move with life in the scherzo. The languid clarinet solo (Chris Richards?) is wonderful and the trio when it arrives is perfectly shaped, with excellent cameos from some of the Sinfonia’s marvellous principals. I have to mention the principal flute’s sublime contribution (Adam Walker? – I do wish Chandos had included a list of players).

Christopher Palmer, writing in the booklet for the LPO Thomson recording, says the emotional burden of the suite is carried by the slow movement entitled The Lovers. Wilson is quicker than Thomson in all the sections of the piece but here the difference is marked. Wilson takes eight minutes over the movement whilst Thomson’s version comes in at almost eleven. There is no funny business (cuts); Wilson just adopts a fresh tempo from the outset, then goes for it in the vivo section. He reminds me of Previn in that revelatory Walton 1 from the late 60s. The orchestra are his trusty steed riding the storm. 

This brilliant work closes with a finale featuring Cressida’s lament on cor anglais and ending with a soundscape for the doomed lovers’ final tragic end. It is masterfully crafted by Palmer from the vocal lines in the score. The piece deserves to be better known and in this recording we finally have the perfect advocate for it. Thomson’s creator record will always be close to my heart and I enjoyed the Birmingham version (it was actually recorded in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg) but this new account sweeps all before it.

Coupled with Troilus and Cressida on this new record is the oft-recorded Violin Concerto. The leader of the Sinfonia of London, Charlie Lovell-Jones, gets his chance to shine as soloist. The concerto was written for Heifetz, who premiered it in America in 1939. In recent years it has become extremely popular, featuring in many a concert season and in the record catalogues regularly. From my hard-drives, I selected a quite recent version on Hyperion, featuring Anthony Marwood and the BBC Scottish under Martyn Brabbins, to use as a yardstick to measure this new pretender (review). That CD is similarly coupled with other pieces by Walton. In Brabbins’ case he chose the Partita and the Hindemith Variations.

Charlie Lovell-Jones plays on our heart-strings just as fluently as he does on those of his very fine Guadagnini. The dreamy main theme is lavishly portrayed to maximum effect. As we would expect, Wilson sets up a vigorous development section offering opportunities for Lovell-Jones to show his virtuosity in some nimble passage-work. He is most impressive ,though, in those rhapsodic flights into the stratosphere which Walton wrote to show off the sweetness and purity of Heifetz’s fiddle playing.

If it was the Heifetz dolcissimo he was after showcasing in the tranquil opening, Walton wrote the presto second movement to spotlight his virtuosity. This movement is a scherzo and trio, fast-moving and charming. Lovell-Jones’ pyrotechnics are impressive and the violin is presented naturally in a typical Chandos sound balance. The finale is the longest movement and contains the drop-dead gorgeous long melody begun at 0:54 which soon becomes entwined with the echo of the sognando (dreamy) motif from back in the first movement. Walton develops this with some other more energetic phrases in some beautiful writing for violin and orchestra. There is a substantial accompanied cadenza (from 8:45) which suits Lovell-Jones’ temperament very well.

Overall, it is a fine performance of the piece and an auspicious concerto debut recording from the young violinist. Anthony Marwood’s 2016 performance is cooler and a little more restrained which suites me better in this work. In his account with Martyn Brabbins, they consistently adopt a broader tempo than do Lovell-Jones and Wilson. The sound from Hyperion is vivid and bright. Marwood’s canzonetta in the trio is captivatingly seductive and caressed with a touch more care I think. The extra room Brabbins gives him in the slower patches of the finale and are used to embellish with real poetry and style. I think for me, Marwood just edges it. My all-time favourite recordings of this piece are Menuhin, Haendel and Joshua Bell – all for different reasons. The piece is big enough to take several varied approaches. I would love to hear Oistrakh in it. I believe he played it but have never found any recording.

John Wilson’s first Walton disc ends with the early Portsmouth Point overture – a lollipop in the best Beecham tradition. The performance cuts quite a dash, too, and Sir Thomas himself would I am sure, smile on its placement here in the programme. The rhythmic minefield holds no fear for this orchestra of superstars. I believe this is the first of a Walton project by these artists. It is a great start and I look forward to the next instalment.

Philip Harrison

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