Walton: Cello Concerto, Symphony No. 1, Scapino Album Review – Positive Takes, Pop and Pop | classical music

TThis is the second Sinfonia of London album dedicated to William Walton and a perfect example of how conductor John Wilson’s lively, penetrating style combined with the orchestra’s trademark brilliance to fit this composer’s music like a glove. It’s evident from the start in a raucous reading of Scapino’s overture that positively snaps, crackles and crackles.

Principal cellist Jonathan Asgard is the soloist in Walton’s final concerto, where the music’s romantic, anxiety-ridden sweep is tinged with introspective melancholy. Transparent orchestral textures allow his generous tone to shine, while stunning technique is on display in an immaculately detailed account of the central Allegro appassionato.

The First Symphony has received some wonderful recordings over the years, not least André Previn’s stunning 1972 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner’s 2014 recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Wilson’s performance doesn’t hold a candle to anyone. Its emphatic pace underscores the depressed tension of the opening movement while building its snarling climax with easy assurance. Orchestral precision, aided by Chandos’s surgically detailed scoring, pays off throughout. The scherzo “con malizia” is full of haunting detail, the slow movement is quietly affecting, and for once, the hard-won finale with its colorful, artistic fanfare feels fully earned.