Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 11 July 1939, page 13


GEORG SZELL.

New Work Presented.

WILLIAM WALTON

SYMPHONY.

Geoig S^ell considers thit the Sjm phony by Wi'l'am Wilson stands amona the most distinguished music (hat has been wiitten duiing the twentieth con tuiy His pel foi manee of the uoik with the Sydney Symphony Oichestix last night ceitamly did nothing to dis pi ove that contention

The Sjniphony was plnved with siiiPitlai eneigj and concen tip lion aid II piovided a deeply moving cxpeiience foi those imon" the Town Hill audience who could catch some of Its poitent it a fiisl helling

Such a composition would hive to be ex-amined and to be felt emotions llj mmv times befoie its tiue sigmflcmce could be evnUiUed But lasl nights pirsentation at le ist sketched intelligibly the bioad mi sos and made one icallse what this syniphonj was all about

William Walton had nude himself lnovvn to the Sydney public so fai only thioueh i poition of his rocade Suite and thioiigh his music for the nins including: the ballet In Escape Me Ncvct Tacade was vvittv shniply pointed and full of jotithful cxuboi

ance and ingenuity in the ise of orphcslnl

coloui

Now the composet has pased beyond tint smart tnfle and launched into a gieatot spheie wheie the newcomci mwt stand on equal tcims with Beethoven Eiahms anil Mo"ait With Sibelius too One mentions especially the rinni^h mnstei boeiusi

although Wiltons technique i<¡ pie omine lUv his own a eeinin ilcnicntil coldness ml fieiceness inn thiough his seoie «li ch cul to mind Sibelius s pi e\ ailing moods

STRANGELY COMPLEX

Compiled with eighteenth and nineteenth centuiy achievements William Wallons Sjm phonv is stiangely complex Instead ol i legular pattern one found biolon lights staccato eloqtic ice an inv aid vvcivinj, convo lution of acidly contiasted melodies The geneial effect like tint of the miss of twen tleth centuiy music îcflected the febrile clnr actei of the ane Theie was nothing lusri

ous ibout this scoio nothing, lelsuulv and towing Insto id the ihytlims ciossed each othei constnni.lv the bn es-mci especi

illv the tiiumplnnt ti ombones uni, out pondeiously and uneisllv above the lushing igitatlon of the stnngs

Yel most If not all the Sjmphonv achieved its object The fevciish clamoiu was oi

ginlscd It did not spiawl buitilly ord ciudclv but mai ched foi wild in a foimatlon that the intellect could gi isp At i first healing the slow movement nppeiued to be the weakest These vvandetini, mc'odles to at least one listener called foi a wuiinei a moie dhect ljiicism and slncenty The Wal

ton of Tacade it seemed had not quite lid himself of tint sell eonseious cvnlci ni Still the impiession was lustily gained lut night and it might be modified on fuithci lequaintince with this îomiikable woik

ZESTrUL PLAYERS

The plivois thtevv themselves zestfullj

almost fienotieall Into theil t isk Thev inllsed thiillini,l the mightj cicateado bil It on implicblc îcpetition of the themes which bl ought the fiist mo ement lo a close Again md again in this movement mid clsewhou thev lclnfoioed the fcolin foi climax which i one of Waltons mist Miipiising and eke

li if j ini, tulls rho div chatter of the Gohoi/o (mniked with mallee in the scotc) «is lrimnable in its livclj lionicil hean

Icssness

Aftei the Intel val Mr Lauionco Godfioy "Smith played the solo put In the Gi leg Piano Conceito One hid heaid his mir c ismcsed with moie lcsillcnce and with

lentoi luslie of tono But the pianist sot r iib even thine. In clou outline mid in the slow move nu ni iii hot mi < HI lil up in ho nulli inminMc lnuhnts IHv vvhlrli fiofcssoi S¿ell invented the oichcstitil ocoic