Walton's First Symphony
Tom Service chooses his favourite recording of William Walton's Symphony No 1 in B flat minor.
In 1932, with the spectacular success of Belshazzar's Feast behind him, Walton began his Symphony No 1. But, always a slow worker, the symphony took him two painful years to complete \u2013 painful because what lay behind most of the Symphony was the emotional upheaval that came with the end of a relationship. The result was the greatest English symphony of its time, its darkly menacing first movement bursting with seemingly elemental power, is followed by a bitter scherzo marked Presto 'con malizia' ('with malice'), a melancholic slow movement and a joyful major key finale.