Tuesday, June 26, 2012

1966


The classic recording of William Walton's Symphony No. 1. The first premiere of the entire work was in 1935; this recording is from 1966. Love the opening. Am addicted to the finale. What's in the middle is just as engaging. This is among the finest bright lights, big city orchestral statements made in the twentieth century. Previn made it happen, the jazz, the anxiety, angst, energy, endurance - whatever words describe the music, it's all right here. I think of this symphony as the Western equivalent of Shostakovich No. 5 in the sense that both symphonies depict struggle, one with totalitarian regime, the other with the individual's place in the hustle of the free world. You may hear something different, which is OK. That's the whole joy of hearing tunes without words.

Download here (no password):
http://www.mediafire.com/?gpzeseukilj33d6

Buy HERE (Collected Works... A+). Also check out Walton's Second and the Viola Concerto HERE. Or Belshazzar's Feast HERE. And a whole bunch of other great stuff HERE.

Cheers,
Angus

2 comments:

Paul said...

Downloading it now. I should give Walton another chance... :-)

(I should also sort out that memory stick for you soon too!)

Ed said...

especially this recording!