WALTON

Belshazzar's Feast, Choral Works & Songs

Coronation Te Deum

Salisbury Cathedral Choir, Winchester Cathedral Choir & Chichester Cathedral Choir

Belshazzar's Feast

Benjamin Luxon (baritone)

London Philharmonic Choir & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti

Jubilate Deo

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

Set me as a seal upon thine heart

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

Where does the uttered music go?

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

Missa Brevis

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

The Twelve

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

A Litany 'Drop, drop slow tears'

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

All this time

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

Make we joy now in this fest

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

What cheer?

First release on CD

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston

A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table

First release on CD

Three Sitwell Songs

First release on CD

Heather Harper (soprano) & Paul Hamburger (piano)

This 2CD set reveals two sides of Walton, the composer of music for the voice. CD1 features the extravagant side of the composer with multiple choirs and a huge orchestra for swaggering performances of the Coronation Te Deum and Belshazzar’s Feast, both with Sir Georg Solti conducting. CD2, with all items released on CD for the first time, features the more intimate side of the composer, with settings of choral miniatures, from the earliest setting (Drop, drop, slow tears of 1917) up to the 1972 Jubilate. Simon Preston’s LP was released on Argo to mark Walton’s 70th birthday. The remainder of the items come from a L’Oiseau-Lyre LP coupling songs by Walton and Machonchy and performed by Heather Harper. A Song for the Lord Mayor’s Table was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for the first City of London Festival; the texts were chosen by the English dramatist and poet Christopher Hassall and the poems come mostly from 18th-century verse related to London. The collection is rounded off with Walton’s Three Songs to poems by Dame Edith Sitwell date from 1932, all based on the composer’s Façade.

Eloquence ELQ4804972