It's rather strange that Walton was trapped in a kind of writer's block, couldn't write the final movement, and this piece premiered without it. But when he wrote that last movement, he wrote a great one.
It was a question of a young man's passion. The entire symphony is dedicated to Baroness Ima von Douernberg, a young widow that Walton was madly in love with, but she dumped him before he could compose the last movement. A subsequent affair with Lady Alice Wimborne provided the inspiration for him to compose the jubilant and triumphant finale.
The love affair was a tempestuous one and the first 3 movements of this symphony echo that. I think he couldn't see a way to resolve the music until his own life experience moved on to a more positive place. Some critics felt the contrast between the first 3 movements and the finale is too sharp, but it feels natural and perfect to me. Sometimes you emerge from a long tunnel of doubt, confusion and frustration into the light. I don't think Walton could have written this finale in his emotional and psychological state 2 years earlier, and if he had completed the symphony then, it would have been poorer as a result. The first 3 movements are at the very limit of emotional intensity and a finale in the same vein would be hard to take. Instead, it maintains the intensity and energy but transformed to optimism and resolution.
@@wendyscott8425 What a great idea - a Walton movie! Taking in his life with the Sitwells, and in Ischia and his writing for the Coronations. Who'd play him, though...?
That last movement is "gift from heaven" in its intensity and brilliance. Walton's entire symphony is magnificent, but it looses some of its steam through the second and third movements, but when the last movement comes on, it pulls the symphony together in a brilliant and uniquely Walton way. I love Walton: the movie composer and unique human being.
I tend to agree - somewhat. But the 1st movement (from 14:16 to its conclusion) more than compensates. I find it dazzling - and performed well here. I have a few versions on CD by various orchestras.
I agree, and I think that is because the first movement is so, so, good that it would dificult for Walton, in his first symphony to come with something so great in the next movements... when it came the time for the finale he was perhaps more distant from the burst of inspiration of the first one again and he had some very good ideas again!
@@sergioazevedo7390 Sergio, I think you are absolutely right! There is something of Beethoven in Walton's 1st movement. While I love the entire symphony, I love the 1st and 3rd movements best!
Such an astonishing symphony,this is a very good performance,but Previn is the undoubted master of this particular Walton composition.Thank you for posting.
Great to see this tremendous work given an impassioned performance in Spain, where there is growing awareness of the British musical titans, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Walton.
The first movement should start allegro assai, but this interpretation isn't impassioned enough, I'm afraid. Compare Bryden Thompson's version with The London Philharmonic Orchestra and you'll hear real spark.
Your list should include Britten. Some critic once said Vaughn Williams is the greatest British composer between Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten. For me, Britten is the greatest British composer of the 20th century, and one of the four greatest of the 20th century [in the European classical tradition], the others being Bartok, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky.
Lovely performance of one of my favourite 20th century pieces. Thank you, orchestra, conductor, and all involved in recording this video and making it available to us. There are many good things in this performance, but If there is one passage that's extra special to me, it would have to be the flute solo at the beginning of the third movement. That young lady put her heart, body and soul into Walton's achingly beautiful melody, making of it something quite out of this world. Wonderful.
Bravo to you, my Spanish counterparts!. Super performance of a wonderful work. And I can think of quite a few times in my career when I could have done with a conductor as concise as this guy.
Blockbuster of a symphony. The first movement starts so calmly but soon develops into a maelstrom of emotion. Malicious second movement, very moving third and resolved triumphantly by the fourth. One of my absolute favourite works. Playing here is very good on the whole but several timing issues. Accurate rhythm is essential in this work.
Wonderful performance, especially of the second and fourth movements. I think it's safe to say that for one who is playing this, it's best to have heard the piece before. Some parts seem so difficult that you might as well just play how you remember it!
GEE WHIZ - talk about PICKY - it was NOT that noticeable. Unless you're a hornist and then, since it's the most volatile instrument in the orchestra - NOT EVEN the conductor cares !
Smacks of a "aren't I clever I can hear a split" kind of comment. Presumably - if you are a professional musician yourself - you have never made a mistake. If you are not a professional musician, don't criticise those who have the talent and skill and dedication to make it in this demanding profession.
Les coupures publicitaires sont intolérables: c'est déjà pénible dans un film mais dans un concert, dans un mouvement de symphonie c'est une insulte au compositeur, aux musiciens, au chef, à l'auditeur. J'ai arrêté l'écoute après la deuxième coupure, à 14:10.
I do not intend to critisize anything but I’m afraid I do not understand this kind of music. What am I supposed to enjoy? To me, the pleasure of music is melody and harmony. But I hear no melody here and the harmony is monotonous throughout. What is the pleasure of this music? I see that every performer (including the conductor) passionately enjoys playing; this may be the piece for the performers?
Am I suppose to like this, the score? If Baroness Ima von Dornberg heard this, no wonder she dumped him. lol. It's tortured, with added flights of pomposity.
You're entitled to your opinion - or your entitled to you're opinion, as one often sees in YT comments. I agree about the pomposity, but it only happens in the last five minutes of the final movement.
I think the baroness left him because she was widowed with three children and needed security rather having to deal with a struggling composer. She went on to marry a doctor who could provide her family with unlimited health care, as well bestowing a financial status upon her commensurate with her title. But yes, I imagine she would have found this music unnerving, particularly if she had to listen to it with her children. Walton gave full vent to his frustrated passions in the first three movements and then blasted it all away in the fourth.
![William Walton: Cello Concerto - Nicolas Altstaedt (1/2) [score + audio]](/img/n.gif)
It's rather strange that Walton was trapped in a kind of writer's block, couldn't write the final movement, and this piece premiered without it. But when he wrote that last movement, he wrote a great one.
It was a question of a young man's passion. The entire symphony is dedicated to Baroness Ima von Douernberg, a young widow that Walton was madly in love with, but she dumped him before he could compose the last movement. A subsequent affair with Lady Alice Wimborne provided the inspiration for him to compose the jubilant and triumphant finale.
Wow, what a story. They might be able to make it into a movie! :)
The love affair was a tempestuous one and the first 3 movements of this symphony echo that. I think he couldn't see a way to resolve the music until his own life experience moved on to a more positive place. Some critics felt the contrast between the first 3 movements and the finale is too sharp, but it feels natural and perfect to me. Sometimes you emerge from a long tunnel of doubt, confusion and frustration into the light. I don't think Walton could have written this finale in his emotional and psychological state 2 years earlier, and if he had completed the symphony then, it would have been poorer as a result. The first 3 movements are at the very limit of emotional intensity and a finale in the same vein would be hard to take. Instead, it maintains the intensity and energy but transformed to optimism and resolution.
@@wendyscott8425 What a great idea - a Walton movie! Taking in his life with the Sitwells, and in Ischia and his writing for the Coronations. Who'd play him, though...?
@@BassistPaul Well, he looks like any number of English actors. I'm sure they could find someone. :)
That last movement is "gift from heaven" in its intensity and brilliance.
Walton's entire symphony is magnificent, but it looses some of its steam through the second and third movements,
but when the last movement comes on, it pulls the symphony together in a brilliant and uniquely Walton way.
I love Walton: the movie composer and unique human being.
I tend to agree - somewhat. But the 1st movement (from 14:16 to its conclusion) more than compensates. I find it dazzling - and performed well here. I have a few versions on CD by various orchestras.
I agree, and I think that is because the first movement is so, so, good that it would dificult for Walton, in his first symphony to come with something so great in the next movements... when it came the time for the finale he was perhaps more distant from the burst of inspiration of the first one again and he had some very good ideas again!
@@sergioazevedo7390 Sergio, I think you are absolutely right!
There is something of Beethoven in Walton's 1st movement.
While I love the entire symphony, I love the 1st and 3rd movements best!
Tremendous playing. The whooping horns in the thrilling second movement add so much to the climax. This is an outstanding conductor and orchestra.
I love this Walton symphony so much. So powerful and full of emotion!
Such an astonishing symphony,this is a very good performance,but Previn is the undoubted master of this particular Walton composition.Thank you for posting.
Spiritual, sensory and rebellious, music of this composer reveals secret impostures, explores serene pleasures, a world of resurfacing dreams 🌺💫
Great to see this tremendous work given an impassioned performance in Spain, where there is growing awareness of the British musical titans, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Walton.
The first movement should start allegro assai, but this interpretation isn't impassioned enough, I'm afraid. Compare Bryden Thompson's version with The London Philharmonic Orchestra and you'll hear real spark.
Elgar and Williams "musical titans"? Oook
Your list should include Britten. Some critic once said Vaughn Williams is the greatest British composer between Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten. For me, Britten is the greatest British composer of the 20th century, and one of the four greatest of the 20th century [in the European classical tradition], the others being Bartok, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky.
@@diegeigergarnele7975 How much Vaughan Williams have you heard? There's a lot more than just 'The Lark Ascending'.
@@diegeigergarnele7975 RVW arguably the greatest 20C composer...dumped the turged Germanic stuff...as did the wonderful Scandinavian composers.
Lovely performance of one of my favourite 20th century pieces. Thank you, orchestra, conductor, and all involved in recording this video and making it available to us.
There are many good things in this performance, but If there is one passage that's extra special to me, it would have to be the flute solo at the beginning of the third movement. That young lady put her heart, body and soul into Walton's achingly beautiful melody, making of it something quite out of this world. Wonderful.
Wonderful Performance.......beautiful principal flute
Lively, sharp performance of a great symphony.
Muchas gracias por compartir este Magnífico Concierto.
Bravo to you, my Spanish counterparts!. Super performance of a wonderful work. And I can think of quite a few times in my career when I could have done with a conductor as concise as this guy.
What a disaster for the concert hall to be so empty... one of the great symphonies
Blockbuster of a symphony. The first movement starts so calmly but soon develops into a maelstrom of emotion. Malicious second movement, very moving third and resolved triumphantly by the fourth. One of my absolute favourite works. Playing here is very good on the whole but several timing issues. Accurate rhythm is essential in this work.
¡Qué obra maestra! ¡Y qué buena interpretación!
It's the best performance of the symphony I have heard.
Amazing. I love how they left the music to speak.
BRAVO!! Trumpet solo in 4th mov.!!
I. Allegro assai 0:20
II. Presto, con malizia 16:07
III. Andante con malinconia 22:49
IV. Maestoso - Brioso ed ardentemente 34:51
Wonderful performance, especially of the second and fourth movements. I think it's safe to say that for one who is playing this, it's best to have heard the piece before. Some parts seem so difficult that you might as well just play how you remember it!
A perfect performance, and this is _not_ an easy symphony to perform.
Carlos Kalmar is a genius conductor
春の祭典のリズムも取り入れた交響曲
THE symphony of the 20th century.
ブラームス、ベートーベン、シューベルトの交響曲を全て合わせたよりも、私にとって、無くてはならない交響曲
12:33 the violinist 🥰🥰🥰
Can someone explain to me how i could get myself into an orchestra band 😍
Choose a stringed instrument and practice 10,000 hours (problogservice.com/2012/03/15/what-malcolm-gladwell-really-said-about-the-10000-hour-rule/).
AUDITION! Oh and yes, I forgot, the 10,000 hours of practice.
35:57
第２楽章のスピード感が魅力
スコアを追うのが大変
いいね
the conductor used to work with Steven Spielberg. They hunted sharks ...
idiot :)
イギリスのクラシック作曲家は、テンポにメリハリがない人が多い。ゆったりしている。ウォルトンは交響曲第１番を聴いて、イギリス人に思えない。ノリ、グルーヴ感がラテン的。
ウォルトンはイタリア系イギリス人だった、ポルトガル系イギリス人だった
と言われたら、僕は「なるほど」
て納得した。
私はアメリカ送り
これは仕方がない
ヨーロッパが好き
しかし、「オマエはアメリカ送りだ！」
左遷辞令を受け入れる
私はアメリカ派
Ouch! Another horn flub at about 0:30. Oh well. Just hope he can hit it next time.
Hardly noticeable.
GEE WHIZ - talk about PICKY - it was NOT that noticeable. Unless you're a hornist and then, since it's the most volatile instrument in the orchestra - NOT EVEN the conductor cares !
Smacks of a "aren't I clever I can hear a split" kind of comment. Presumably - if you are a professional musician yourself - you have never made a mistake. If you are not a professional musician, don't criticise those who have the talent and skill and dedication to make it in this demanding profession.
Les coupures publicitaires sont intolérables: c'est déjà pénible dans un film mais dans un concert, dans un mouvement de symphonie c'est une insulte au compositeur, aux musiciens, au chef, à l'auditeur. J'ai arrêté l'écoute après la deuxième coupure, à 14:10.
基本はワグナーのリング。
リズムパターンはツェッペリンのホラロラロラ
I do not intend to critisize anything but I’m afraid I do not understand this kind of music. What am I supposed to enjoy?
To me, the pleasure of music is melody and harmony. But I hear no melody here and the harmony is monotonous throughout.
What is the pleasure of this music? I see that every performer (including the conductor) passionately enjoys playing;
this may be the piece for the performers?
Am I suppose to like this, the score? If Baroness Ima von Dornberg heard this, no wonder she dumped him. lol. It's tortured, with added flights of pomposity.
You're entitled to your opinion - or your entitled to you're opinion, as one often sees in YT comments.
I agree about the pomposity, but it only happens in the last five minutes of the final movement.
I think the baroness left him because she was widowed with three children and needed security rather having to deal with a struggling composer. She went on to marry a doctor who could provide her family with unlimited health care, as well bestowing a financial status upon her commensurate with her title. But yes, I imagine she would have found this music unnerving, particularly if she had to listen to it with her children. Walton gave full vent to his frustrated passions in the first three movements and then blasted it all away in the fourth.