Walton: Henry V

 

What a splendid recording this is! Walton scholar Christopher Palmer has fashioned a concert presentation of the music from William Walton's film score to Henry V from 1944, apparently utilizing 90% of the existing music in this concert adaptation. Those looking for the original soundtrack or score from the film will not find it here. If such a thing existed, I would imagine the 1944 sonics would be in rough shape.

Aside from Palmer's contributions mentioned above, the origin of the final concert work began as the enthusiastic brainchild of British conductor Sir Neville Marriner and actor Christopher Plummer. Together, the two present a mix of film score and spoken word, making the presentation a sort-of incidental music concert piece.

The music is swell from beginning to end, with Christopher Palmer interpolating Walton's March from A History of English Speaking Peoples to bridge some of the action, and Walton integrating pre-existing contemporaneous music from Shakespeare's time to the score.

While there is plenty of orchestral music featured on its own, both heroic and tragic, there is also verse spoken from the film (and from the play, of course) by Christopher Plummer. Plummer is a performer of the grand old theatre tradition, thus he knows how to sell the big moments opposite the hushed intimate soliloquies. I am not overly familiar with the vocal stylings of Sir Laurence Olivier, who starred in the original film, but Plummer seems to do Shakespeare proud.

No, the spoken word is not tracked separately, so if such things concern you, music and voice overlap throughout. The original Chandos recording was made at a time when too many CD tracks came at a cost to labels (for some reason), although I think it could be done here, aside from the few areas where speaker and orchestra overlap. No worries, as the narration only adds to the impact of the music.

The music itself is exciting, colorful, and emotional, where Walton remarkably inhabits the time period of Henry V musically. The long battle scene at Agincourt is the centerpiece of the work, while the final French court scene is world's away from everything which came before. In addition, Ian Watson performs some of the historical music on harpsichord once the entire work is finished, provided as an addendum to show what Walton integrated into his score from ages past.

The Chandos recording sounds stupendous. Originally released in 1990, the reissue I have was remastered in 2007 (Original pictures at the bottom of the post). I don't know if this recording truly needed such an upgrade, since Chandos is well known for their high-end sonics, but this is a glittering sounding performance across the board.

 

 

 
Works
Henry V (60.59)
Appendix Music:
  Rosa Solis (2.26)
  Watkin's Ale (1.57)
  Obal, dinlou Limouzi (1.34)

Soloists
Christopher Plummer, narrator
Ian Watson, harpsichord
Celia Nicklin, oboe

Ensemble
Westminster Cathedral Choristers
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chorus
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 1990; 2007
Total Timing: 67.11

 

 

 

I originally wasn't going to listen to this recording for the blog at all, since I misplaced it in a recent move.

I am so glad I reordered it, because this production is great from start to finish.

Run, don't walk to this music!

 

 

 

 

Find more Walton recordings HERE!