DAVID MELLOR

William Walton: A Centenary Celebration

SOMM Recordings

Ahundred years ago last month the bizarre premiere took place of Façade, a collection of nonsense poems by Edith Sitwell, with some remarkable music by the 19-yearold prodigy William Walton.

The audience of 20 literary folk heard Sitwell declaim her poems through a hole in a curtain, employing a weird amplifying device called a sengerphone, while Walton (right) conducted an ensemble of four players.

This new recording featuring the baritone Roderick Williams as a first-class reciter, and Tamsin Dalley as his not quite so accomplished female colleague, employs a group of players from the Stratford-based Orchestra of the Swan, under the experienced theatrical conductor Bruce O’Neil.

This is not an attempt to recreate what was heard first time out, because Façade was constantly changing so that, for instance, the official premiere in 1923, much booed, apparently, at the instigation of the Sitwells, who wanted the notoriety, had 16 new pieces not included in the original Chelsea performance.

Room is also found for the so-called Henry V originally arranged in 1990 by the late, tragically short-lived Christopher Palmer, as a vehicle for the Hollywood actor Christopher Plummer, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by its founder, Sir Neville Marriner. This performance, also with the Orchestra of the Swan, is a chamber music version arranged by Edward Watson and featuring the actor

Kevin Whately, of Lewis fame, as the narrator.

Whately doesn’t have the heroic voice of a Plummer, or indeed an Olivier, who starred in the original Henry V film.

But he does very well here, and no one will feel short-changed by the enormous effort he puts into differentiating between the various characters, and giving real meaning to every phrase.

Running to more than 80 minutes, this is an exceptional CD release well worth exploring.