Telarc took Previn
back into the recording studio with
Walton 1 almost twenty years after his
momentous analogue recording with the
LSO. That RCA recording has nourished
the BMG catalogue for many years and
is still available on RCA-BMG 74321
92575 reviews:
John Quinn Len
Mullenger. Telarc paired Previn
with another top-flight London orchestra:
the RPO. If anything the RPO have an
even more resplendent brass section
than their LSO counterparts of the mid-1960s.
The recording engineers, Tony Faulkner
(symphony) and Jack Renner (marches)
have the benefit of full-on digital
technology. In practice this delivers
a silkier string tone, a brass bite
that has a rasping immediacy (try the
first few minutes of the Presto con
malizia) and a perspective providing
greater reach and depth. The reading
has changed somewhat. The mid-1960s
Previn, furiously eager, despatched
the Symphony in 43:17. In 1985 the timing
had extended to 45:08. This is hardly
a ‘step-change’ but it rather confirms
the mind’s-eye impression of Previn
adopting a more weighty tread. Even
so Previn keeps the lead out of the
orchestra’s boots. Only in the Andante
con malinconia can things feel as
if the conductor has taken his eye off
the horizon while the orchestra revel
in the passing detail. However the positives
carry the day. It’s strange, but for
the first time I even picked up some
humour in the ‘giggle’ of the flutes
in the Presto. In summary this
is a performance crackling with energy
and if it is not as headlong as the
RCA recording it gains in Homeric stature
from the slightly broader pacing.
The two marches are
also very well done but they do not
supplant EMI’s superb analogue recording
made with the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra and Louis Frémaux in
1977. Both however are done with smash
and panache. Even the conventionally
demeaned Orb and Sceptre is given
a slashing urgency and a much-needed
buoyancy as it strides out.
The notes are by Richard
E Rodda and provide standard context.
If you want a handsome sounding Walton
1 then you will find plenty here to
enjoy.
This disc is a reissue
at mid-price but not repackaged. As
is usual with Telarc’s rolling revival
programme discs already issued at full
price are simply moved with the original
catalogue number to the lower price
bracket..
Rob Barnett
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/André Previn
