Search - Walton, Previn, Vpo :: Symphony 1

Previn triumphs in the Walton First

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 07/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"RCA should reissue this classic 1972 Walton Sym. #1, and when they do, the sound drastically needs to be cleaned up. This is one occasion whhere a single performance changed the way a piece of music is performed. Previn took an overly comfortable example of dated modernism, redolent of the 30s, and applied a more aggressive, angular approach. By giving the Walton First a knife edge--just as it had for its original audience--he gives it an air of great tension and apprehension. You sense the Nazi invasion around the corner.



Nobody since has come close, not even Previn himself in his Telarc remake with hte Royal Phil. The LSO is a more powerful orchestra, to be sure, and they play with intensity and commitment here. RCA's crude digital remastering dates from 1988 and has an unpleasant glare around it, along with a crunch in the big climaxes. But anyone who wants to hear this work anew should go into the used market and find a copy. Accept no substitutes, as they say."