Walton: The Complete Facades
Naxos, 2022
8/10
Listen to Walton: The Complete Facades
The esteemed conductor JoAnn Falletta brings her inimitable vision to these works of William Walton, where Hila Plitmann, Kevin Deas, and Fred Child lend their voices and the Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players are in attendance for this first ever recording of The Complete Facades,
The first 22 tracks belong to “An Entertainment”, where soft, flowing winds and vivid storytelling occasionally are met with swift, radiant moments and brief bouts of singing.
The middle tracks belong to the booming horns and Deas’ exciting and inviting baritone and Plittman’s smooth pipes in that often dreamy, mysterious landscape that is “A Further Entertainment”.
“Additional Numbers” exits the listen, and it balances tension with beauty, where marching band drumming and cinematic moments are met with strong interpretations of text and unpredictable, meticulous song craft.
A very unique body of work, these pieces were a collaboration between Walton at age 18 and the avant-garde poet, Edith Sitwell, and began Walton’s immense success. 100 years later, they are still as youthful in spirit, and are reworked with a careful attention to detail.
Travels well with: JoAnn Falletta- The Four Seasons; Peter Boyer- Balance Of Power