Release Date: 01 January 2017
Label: Chandos - Classics / Chandos
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 095115194720
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: Sir William Walton
Description
Sir William Walton wrote two operas, the second – The Bear – far more readily acclaimed than the first, and more often performed. Its premiere took place in Aldeburgh in June 1967 as part of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival, and followed the disastrous reception of Walton’s first opera, Troilus and Cressida, a piece seen as too traditional for the taste of those austere post-war times. So second time round Walton was taking no chances: everything in The Bear is on a modest scale: a chamber opera in one act, for three singers only, no chorus, and the orchestra is chambersized, with a small number of strings (originally solo players). Not only did this specific recording bring the piece to fame but it also proved a revelatory disc for the soloists, Della Jones, Alan Opie, and John Shirley- Quirk, who would go on to become multi-award-winning soloists and whose achievements in British music would become increasingly successful.
Jonathan Aasgaard; Sinfonia of London; John Wilson
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Halle Choir; John Storgards
Sara Dowling; Aquarelle Guitar Quartet
Dame Sarah Connolly; Joseph Middleton
James Ehnes; BBC Philharmonic; Juanjo Mena
Zeb Soanes; Britten Sinfonia Voices; Britten Sinfonia; Jamie Phillips
Sinfonia of London; John Wilson
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; Manchester Camerata; Gabor Takacs-Nagy
