Walton: Cello Concerto; Symphony No. 1, Scapino Jonathan Aasgaard, Sinfonia of London & John Wilson

• William Walton (1902 - 1983): Scapino:
• 1 Walton: Scapino 08:06
• Concerto for Cello and Orchestra:
• 2 Walton: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: I. Moderato 07:31
• 3 Walton: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: II. Allegro appassionato 06:21
• 4 Walton: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra: III. Tema ed improvvisazioni 13:32
• Symphony No. 1:
• 5 Walton: Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro assai 13:35
• 6 Walton: Symphony No. 1: II. Presto con malizia 06:19
• 7 Walton: Symphony No. 1: III. Andante con malinconia 09:36
• 8 Walton: Symphony No. 1: IV. Maestoso 11:35
• Total Runtime 01:16:35

Info for Walton: Cello Concerto; Symphony No. 1, Scapino

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 its 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 première 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.

Jonathan Aasgaard, cello
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson, conductor

Jonathan Aasgaard
One of Europe’s most versatile cellists, the Norwegian Jonathan Aasgaard is active as soloist, chamber musician, studio musician, orchestral principal, teacher, and explorer of new music.

He is Principal Cello of the Sinfonia of London, a regular guest principal of leading British and continental European orchestras, and, as a dedicated teacher, Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Chamber music performances have taken him across Europe, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, and the USA: he has collaborated with artists such as the violinists Nigel Kennedy, Henning Kraggerud, and Julian Rachlin, violist Lawrence Power, cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Giovanni Sollima, pianists Simon Trpčeski, Boris Giltburg, and Joanna MacGregor, and clarinettist Martin Fröst in a range of prominent festivals and concert halls. He has performed more than fifty works for cello and orchestra, his discography including recordings of the William Walton Cello Concerto with the Sinfonia of London, Richard Rodney-Bennett Cello concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bloch’s Schelomo with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, works for cello and orchestra by Carl Davis with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and, among a number of recital discs, Brahms’s cello sonatas with Martin Roscoe, an ‘Editors Choice’ for chamber music in the magazine Gramophone.

A champion of new music, he has given the world première of Carl Davis’s Ballade for cello and orchestra, the European première of Giovanni Sollima’s Double Cello Concerto, the UK première of Weinberg’s Cello Concerto, the US première of concertos by Franz Neruda and Emil Hartmann, and world premières of dozens of solo pieces, many written specially for him.

Jonathan Aasgaard plays a cello made by Celeste Farotti, in Milan, in 1926.

Booklet for Walton: Cello Concerto; Symphony No. 1, Scapino