The centenary next year of Walton’s birth will see
the publication of a number of books on the composer, among them a letter
edition and a picture book, and no doubt further volumes of the Walton
Edition. Here, by contrast, is a book that has been out some twelve
years yet will quite likely have escaped the notice of many readers
because it was not widely reviewed, so all the more reason for drawing
people’s attention to it now. Carolyn Smith’s Walton bio-bibliography
is one in a series from the Greenwood Press that now runs to about 80
titles. Other volumes deal with such diverse figures as Arthur Bliss,
Virgil Thomson, Max Reger, Charles Ives, Cécile Chaminade, Malcolm
Arnold and George Gershwin, to mention but a handful. Carolyn Smith
herself contributed one on Peter Maxwell Davies in 1995 and more recently
there has been a most welcome volume on Cyril Scott by Laurie J Sampsel.
Carolyn Smith’s bio-bibliography appeared eleven years
after Stewart Craggs’ excellent William Walton: A Thematic Catalogue
of his Musical Works (OUP 1977, which was extensively revised in
1990 as William Walton: A Catalogue, and a further up-dated edition
is promised). It takes the form of a brief biography; a list of works
and first performances; a discography; an extensive bibliography that
includes articles and reviews, books, theses and dissertations, and
articles by Walton himself; and an archival section with a list of collections
of Walton’s music. Its presentation and format will be familiar to those
who know others in this series: a type-face that looks rather primitive
by comparison with most modern catalogues, as if they were typewriter
rather than computer generated. But these volumes are admirable in other
ways, not least their strong binding. It has to be said that Craggs’
Catalogue is much to be preferred for its wealth and depth of
detail, and as regards accuracy Craggs is of course much more up-to-date.
But the researcher should not overlook Smith’s bio-bibliography,
if for one section only. Her bibliography of articles and reviews goes
beyond a mere listing. Not only does it include many reviews and articles
that the researcher may not have come upon – and even know of, but in
each case she summarises their content, often with brief but very useful
and revealing quotations. For the staging of J. M. Barrie’s
‘The Boy David’ in 1936, the Glasgow Herald thought that
the ‘gramophone renderings of Walton’s impressionistic score seemed
superfluous’ and the Weekly Scotsman remarked that the ‘musical
background . . . was at no point very evident’, while for John Gielgud’s
1942 production of ‘Macbeth’ the Theatre World reviewer
felt that ‘much . . . is owed . . . to William Walton’s incidental music’.
Clearly in the meantime something had been learned about using specially
recorded music in the theatre.
It is a pity in some ways that the articles were not
listed chronologically rather than by author, especially when it is
the earliest reviews that are by and large the more interesting and
one would have liked to have followed these through as Walton’s reputation
grew. It is not always easy to add to or correct catalogues such as
these when their scope is so vast: Walton’s own article on Constant
Lambert that stemmed from a radio tribute is missing, and in B448 a
1965 article is reviewing a 1972 concert ! But Carolyn Smith’s thoroughness
is impressive and her invaluable listing of articles and reviews in
particular should not be overlooked, although it may be a high price
to pay for this section alone. Nevertheless, the record collector will
find the discography of some fascination as the records are listed as
records, so that, for example, an LP containing four Walton works
is entered four times under each work, and with each record the complete
contents is given, whether the coupling is a work by Walton or not.
Also - very helpful for the collector - re-issues are separate entries.
All in all, despite its age this is still a very useful addition to
the Walton bookshelf.