Customer Reviews

Walton: Belshazzar's Feast

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't expecting much based on the inexpensive price, but this recording blew me away. The recording is phenomenol. The orchestra is outstanding and the brass section is wholesome (and even has a little edge, in a good way). The choir is powerful and full of emotion. Highly recommended.

The quality of the CD is excellent as are the voices and orchestra. The regal and majestic themes aqre brilliantly displayed and the pulse-pounding rhythms can really "rock the house" Hihgly recommended recording.

I heard Paul Daniel's interpretation of Belshazzar's Feast "live" in Leeds Town Hall on March 17, 2001 - actually the place where the piece once was premiered in 1931 on the Leeds festival. Daniel's interpretation that day was a great musical moment - I hoped it would have been recorded.

But the interpretation on the present disc, recorded later in 2001 in Leeds Town Hall but without audience, does not really make the same impression. Walton's wild, jazzy music is more controlled here than what I can recall from the live performance.

Nonetheless it is a very good recording with a lot of musical excitement, partly due to the excellent orchestral playing (the brass is glowingly outstanding, as always in Britain), even if the choral singing is not quite up to the distinguished standard in Previn's seminal account (EMI). Daniel's bass Christopher Purves, moreover, is no match for Previn's John Shirley Quirk - there is more "bite" in the archaic words here.

So, to sum up, a very fine recording that can be recommended, even if not without some minor reservations. For most people, Previn must still be the first "mainstream" choice.

But my first recommendation is actually Ormandy's thrillingly taut interpretation on SONY (a bargain twofer that includes Szell's magical interpretation of Walton's second symphony - available at amazon.co.uk), even if the recording quality is not the very best and the choir sounds less massive and alert than the one in Previn's hands (and even the one in Daniel's recording). The conductor, as always, makes the whole difference.

I simply do not have words to describe the music of this oratorio. Naxos is doing a great job recording this kind of stuff.The orchestra is just amazing. I truly recomend this.