Walton (1902-1983) - Johannesburg Festival Overture
By the
time he came to write his Festival Overture, commissioned in celebration
of the 70th. anniversary of the founding of the city of Johannesburg (the
one in South Africa), Walton was just about ripe for an orchestral “blow-out”.
Between 1948 and 1954, he had sweated cobs over his opera Troilus and
Cressida. In the last years of this labour he produced, for a certain
State Occasion, the March: Orb & Sceptre and a Te Deum,
both demanding at least some degree of dignity appropriate to a centuries-old
tradition. Not so for the junior “Jo'burg” - off came the kid gloves, out
of mothballs came the razor-sharp, jaunty-jazz style of his youth, and
spilling from his pen came seven sizzling minutes of utterly unbuttoned
musical hedonism.
There
are elements of sonata and rondo, but neither form quite fits. The themes
come fast and loose: if you stop to wonder about the provenance or function
of a “new” one, you'll miss half the action. Not that it matters, because
in essence the form is that of a “Twentieth Century Toccata”, an incisive
amalgam of polyphony and fugue which twice coalesces into the swirling
ostinato of a psychedelic street party. Loosen your collars, and enjoy
the carnival.
.
© Paul Serotsky
29, Carr Street,
Kamo,
Whangarei 0101,
Northland,
New Zealand
Conditions
for use apply. Details here
Copyright in these notes is retained by the author without whose prior written permission they may not be used, reproduced, or kept in any form of data storage system. Permission for use will generally be granted on application, free of charge subject to the conditions that (a) the author is duly credited, and (b) a donation is made to a charity of the author's choice.
Return to:
Music
on the Web