Composer: William Turner Walton
Performer: Roderick Williams, Tamsin Dalley, Kevin Whately
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Swan
Conductor: Bruce O’Neil
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: SOMM
Catalogue: SOMMCD277
Release: 2022
Size: 1.32 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Façade – An Entertainment
01. Fanfare
02. No. 1, Hornpipe
03. No. 2, En famille
04. No. 3, Mariner Man
05. No. 4, Long Steel Grass
06. No. 5, Through Gilded Trellises
07. No. 6, Tango-Pasodoblé
08. No. 7, Lullaby for Jumbo
09. No. 8, Black Mrs. Behemoth
10. No. 9, Tarantella
11. No. 10, The Man from a Far Countree
12. No. 11, By the Lake
13. No. 12, Country Dance
14. No. 13, Polka
15. No. 14, Four in the Morning
16. No. 15, Something Lies Beyond the Scene
17. No. 16, Valse
18. No. 17, Yodelling Song
19. No. 18, Scotch Rhapsody
20. No. 19, Popular Song
21. No. 20, Fox-Trot (Old Sir Faulk)
22. No. 21, Sir Beelzebub
Henry V
23. Prologue. Fanfare – March – O for a Muse of Fire
24. Slower – Suppose Within the Girdle
25. Brightly
26. Poco meno – March. Vivo
27. Interlude at the Boar’s Head – Scherzando. Allegretto giocoso – Falstaff, He Is Sick
28. Falstaff Rejection – God Save Thy Grace, King Hal!
29. Touch Her Soft Lips and Art – Slow, Tenderly – Fanfare – Suppose That You Have Seen
30. Harfleur
31. The Night Watch
32. Agincourt
33. Interlude at the French Court
34. Bailero. Lento tranquillo – Alas, She Hath from France
35. Andante pastorale – You Have Witchcraft in Your Lips, Kate
36. Maestoso festoso – March. Vivo
37. Epilogue
38. Brightly
First performed in private for a select audience of London’s glitterati in January 1922, Walton adorned Sitwell’s “experiments in sound” Façade with music of originality and vitality to match the absurdist-leaning poetry. Within a generation, the exhilarating distractions of the Jazz Era had given way to the bleak horror of the Second World War. With Britain at its lowest ebb, Laurence Olivier’s morale-boosting 1944 film version of Henry V was enhanced by one of Walton’s finest, most colourful, dramatic and emotion-laden scores. It is thrillingly realised here in Edward Watson’s chamber version for 11 players. Arranging the work for this relatively small ensemble, Watson creates a remarkable sound brimming with cinematic impact that has been much admired for its blending of the concert platform and theatrical stage.