Franco-Swiss violist Mathis Rochat presents British repertoire for viola and orchestra, pairing William Walton's well-known concerto with rarely recorded works by Herbert Howells and Arthur Benjamin. Featuring violinist Abigel Kralik, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the direction of Howard Griffiths, the program highlights romantic styles and lesser-known voices within the first half of 20th-century British music.
The First Symphony was largely inspired by the composer's tempestuous love affair with the widowed Baroness Imma von Doernberg, whom Walton met in 1929 and with whom he was living on the Continent in the early 1930s. Although the work was long in gestation, with a particular delay in the composition of the finale, the result was universally acclaimed as an outstanding success, with John Ireland commenting "unlike any other English symphony, this is in the real line of symphonic tradition. It is simply colossal, grand, original, and moving to the emotions to the most extreme degree... It has established you as the most vital and original genius in Europe". Walton's star was in the descendent through the 1950's, with a poor reception to his opera Troilus & Cressida, and equally negative comments for his Cello Concerto, which was widely considered to be embarrassingly old-fashioned in it's essentially neo-romantic idiom. Commissioned by Gregor Piatigorsky (at the suggestion of Heifetz), the work was first performed in Boston under Charles Munch in January 1957, with the UK premiere under Sir Malcolm Sargent following a month later. Walton was unable to attend that concert as he was hospitalised following a car accident on the journey to London from his home in Italy. Now widely perceived as one of Walton's most important late scores, the work is performed here by Sinfonia of London's principal cellist Jonathan Aasgaard.
I made my first public appearance as a soloist the same year I graduated and pursued advanced studies in Copenhagen with Emil Telmányi and in Berlin with Willy Hess from 1919 until 1921, and when I returned home, I succeeded in securing a position as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra." But already not long afterwards in 1923 he presented himself as a candidate for the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic, which after the death of Artur Nikisch in the previous year now had Wilhelm Furtwängler as it's chief conductor. He won the position over 14 competitors and relates himself: "That was quite something for an enthusiastic young violinist! From the last desk of the second violinists on Kgs. Nytorv to the highly responsible first desk in Bernburger Strasse, enjoying a close working relationship with such a great figure as Wilhelm Furtwängler.
Spanning 500 years from the exquisite simplicity of Thomas Tallis' perfect miniature O nata lux through Britten's jubilant Festival Te Deum to Cheryl Frances-Hoad's majestic O come let us sing unto the Lord, this album celebrates the hope and anticipation that comes with the beginning of a new day. Arise my love perfectly complements Magdalen's first album on CORO, Peace I leave with you, which celebrates music written for the end of the day.
