This wonderful documentary has to be Tony Palmer’s
masterpiece. I remember, with great pleasure, its first screening in
1981 (two years before the composer’s death) in an unprecedented 90
minute span on British commercial TV with just two short commercial
breaks. One cannot imagine that sort of indulgence in today’s dumbing-
down, ratings-mad atmosphere!
Palmer wisely steps back and allows Sir William and
Lady Susana Walton to tell the story of the composer’s life and times
and music, together with astute observations from Sacheverell Sitwell
and, especially, of Sir Laurence Olivier. Olivier comments that the
music is sexy and strongly affirmative about love – no wonder that Walton
wrote so much thrillingly effective music for films (John Williams has
commented that he is held in great veneration by the Hollywood film
music fraternity).
Palmer’s film traces Walton’s life story beginning
with his humble beginnings in Bolton Lancashire, a place he swore he
would never return to after being bullied at the Oxford choir school
because of his accent. His talent for composition was soon recognised
and he was allowed to stay on in Oxford as ‘the youngest undergraduate
since Henry VIII’. The film then covers the period when he was lodged,
in their attic, by his mentors, the unconventional Sitwells (Osbert,
Edith (for whose verses William composed the Façade music) and
Sacheverell. It was the Sitwells who introduced him to Italy and Amalfi.
It was close-by on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples that he
would eventually settle with Lady Susana. He had met her on a cultural
visit to Buenos Aires and proposed to her on their first meeting. She
said he was ridiculous but he went on to ask her again every day for
the next two weeks or so with the same reply. When he then stopped asking,
she became worried and said yes! She observes that Sir William
was not at all worried about the fact she admitted to not being very
musical – ‘one musician in the family is enough’, he commented. Lady
Walton also comments "he looks upon his compositions as his children
– worse than any pregnancy; ’longer and more painful!’
Sir William’s comments are often wry and impish and
often show a touching vulnerability and sometimes the odd flash of anger
at some slight or painful memory. For instance, he was greatly disappointed
by Lionel Tertis’s initial brusque rejection of his Viola Concerto and
hurt about Elgar’s (he remembers meeting the older composer in the lavatory
at The three Choirs Festival!) scathing comments about the same work.
The excerpts are well chosen and sympathetically performed.
A wonderful musical experience that is whole-heartedly recommended and
especially welcome in this year that we celebrate the centenary of Sir
William’s birth.
The excerpts are well chosen and sympathetically performed. A wonderful
musical experience that is whole-heartedly recommended and especially
welcome in this year that we celebrate the centenary of Sir William's
birth. Ian Lace
This DVD comes in an all-regions NTSC which means that you should
ensure that your DVD player and TV are PAL/NTSC compatible ("dual-standard").
Ian Lace
London Weekend Television’s
South Bank Show 1981 documentary 
074 150-9 [99 mins]