Walton:
Viola Concerto original version

Rubbra:
Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn for solo viola Op 117
Viola Concerto in A major Op 75

‘Power is a latter-day Orpheus, an expression of music’s power to disarm, encourage, soothe and serenade’ (Financial Times) This recent appraisal of Lawrence Power affirms his status as one of the foremost violists of today. His unremitting musical eloquence and brilliant technical ability have consistently drawn the highest praise for all his recordings and performances. In our record of the month for June, Lawrence is joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov. The disc brings together three major pieces by two outstanding and highly individual English composers. Walton’s Viola Concerto is one of his greatest works haunted throughout by the dreamy opening melody, yet suffused with action and vigour, exhibiting the dazzling, biting brilliance familiar from works such as Façade. The ‘eloquent epilogue’, wrote Walton’s biographer Michael Kennedy, ‘remains the single most beautiful passage in all his music, sensuous yet full of uncertainty’. It is presented here in the original 1928 version in its first modern recording. Rubbra’s Viola Concerto is also one of its composer’s major works, demonstrating the new musical depths he had sounded with his Sixth Symphony and showing influences of the symphonic traditions of Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. Alongside it we have the first recording of Rubbra’s Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn for solo viola, an extended virtuoso work of religious and solemn aspect. Lawrence Power’s instinctive understanding and feel for this music together with the great musicianship of his collaborators make this a disc as much to be treasured as their recent recordings of York Bowen and Cecil Forsyth concertos.

GRAMOPHONE AWARDS SHORTLIST 2008; GRAMOPHONE RECOMMENDS; ORCHESTRAL CD OF THE MONTH (CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE); SUNDAY TIMES CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK; BUILDING A LIBRARY RECOMMENDED VERSION (BBC RADIO 3); 'SUPERSONIC' AWARD, PIZZICATO MAGAZINE; DAILY TELEGRAPH CLASSICAL CD OF THE YEAR; CD COMPACT 'CONCERTO' AWARD 2008

'In the 21st century, one new name stands out, the British player Lawrence Power, and this disc swiftly tells us why. He's fleet-fingered. He's various: the changing hues never stop. He's effortlessly eloquent with a centred tone across his entire range … Ilan Volkov and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, incisive performers as usual, give us the 1929 sound: darker than we're now used to, sometimes acidic … The natural ease of Power's delivery makes for a commanding performance … Power's viola discourses with a warmth and fibre that makes Rubbra's musical argument seem always inevitable and always enjoyable. Above all, Power encourages Rubbra and the viola to sing. Their wallflower days are over' (The Times)

'This is music that is somehow virtuosic but not showy, bold and exuberant in places yet profoundly intimate, tinged with a nostalgic reflectiveness yet never merely self-indulgent. Lawrence Power magically combines the soulful intensity of Lionel Tertis with the quicksilver agility of that other British viola genuis, William Primrose. In Power's skilled hands the viola is transformed from the lumbering second-class citizen of legend into a sleek, fine-tuned, noble instrument of infinite grace and expressive subtlety. Walton is one of the few composers to have really understood the viola's unique inner voice and Power traces the music's emotional contours with unerring accuracy … The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under its gifted chief conductor, Ilan Volkov, also sounds utterly transported, illuminating Walton's and Rubbra's elusive musical idioms with playing of considerable accomplishment. The solo viola Meditations, here receiving their premiere recording, are no less captivating, and Power plays them like a lost masterwork. An outstanding release' (Classic FM Magazine *****)

'Power's rich, elegiac tone is heard to wonderful advantage in the melancholic, slowish outer movements, but he has plenty of bite and dazzle in the central Vivo, con molto preciso, one of Walton's most brilliant 'malicious' scherzos … 'Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn' for solo viola (1960), here getting its first recording, deserves to be in the repertoire of all viola players. Power's deeply expressive playing makes it the heart and soul of this remarkable programme' (Sunday Times)

'Power's playing is stunningly precise, crisply articulated and beautifully projected, with no hint of the little scrambles and occasionally pinched tone that beset even quite famous rival recordings … As a substantial bonus, there are two rarities by Walton's underrated contemporary Edmund Rubbra … Here Power's rich and even sound, secure intonation and eloquent phgrasing confirm his place as successor to Lionel Tertis, Primrose and Riddle in the royal line of British violists' (BBC Music Magazine)

'If proof were still needed of Lawrence Power's pre-eminence among viola-players, then this magnificent disc is it … The advantage of a true violist, rather than a violinist who doubles on the viola, is apparent in the flexibility of Power's tonal colouring and the ease with which he slips between the questing melody of the opening, the bright sound of the scherzo and the resignation of the epilogue. He is matched in playing of real bite and textural interest from Ilan Volkov's BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra … Power's identification with this music is complete, steering an expert course through the music's moods' (Daily Telegraph)

'This is a greatly distinguished disc … These very different composers have each produced a masterly work, each of which receives here the finest performance I have heard of either score … [Walton] A new recording of the superior original orchestration is very welcome indeed. This new Hyperion disc is actually the first recording of it to have been made in stereo, and the richness of the original orchestration comes across in Andrew Keener's production with greater delicacy and impact than it has ever had before. The quality of the recording is one thing, but the engineers can capture only the performance taking place, and in this regard, and on this showing, Lawrence Power has to be counted as one of the finest masters of his instrument … He plays with a perfect sense of style and with a profound understanding of and insight into each score as well as a technical mastery and sure intonation which are wholly exceptional. In this, he is abetted by an orchestral contribution under the baton of a superbly gifted conductor. Ilan Volkov matches his soloist with a spontaneity and complete musical unity that … reveal this work to be a greater masterpiece than most of us have experienced until now … Such richly poetic performances as these should be in everyone's record collection' (International Record Review)

Lawrence Power's superb account of what is perhaps Walton's finest orchestral work … compels attention with its unfailing sense of line, rhythmic precision and varied range of colour. His choice of couplings is interesting too, for the 1952 Viola Concerto, by Walton's contemporary Edmund Rubbra, born a year earlier in 1901, is one of his most impressive works, with its long-limbed, introspective solo lines spun over restrained accompaniments. The solo-viola version of the Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn, a real tour de force from Power, appears on disc for the first time' (The Guardian)

'This was in many ways the breakthrough work in Walton's early career … Lawrence Power serves the work superbly … A superb disc, much to be welcomed' (Gramophone)

'Power's radiant tone and electrifying power of projection make no apology for the robustness of both works. He captures the mercurial expression of the Walton brilliantly, its short scherzo bristling with nerve-tingling zest, its melancholic undertones tinged with an airiness that avoids sentimentality. Under Ilan Volkov, the SSO (in Walton's original, fuller version of the score) offers pungent support and nimble urgency in equal measure' (The Scotsman *****)

'Lawrence Power is just that extra bit special, investing the work's tantalising vein of underlying nostalgia with an eloquence that perhaps only a true viola player can bring … Power seems, if anything, even more attuned to Rubbra's espressivo cool, illuminating the Concerto's neo-Romantic gestures with finely judged and restrained intensity. Yet it is the hypnotic concentration of the solo Meditations on a Byzantine Hymn that lingers longest in the memory here, enhanced by luxurious, velvet-toned engineering' (The Strad)

'Sumptuous playing from Lawrence Power … An excellent opportunity to savour the depth and richness of this Cinderella instrument' (Observer)

'Lawrence Power seems to be recording his entire repertoire, which is good news for viola lovers. William Walton's Viola Concerto was his best work, displaying all the features of his compositional skill, including a delightfully rhythmic central Scherzo'

(Daily Mail)(Daily

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including first recordings / Recording details: Various dates; Various recording venues; Produced by Andrew Keener; Engineered by Simon Eadon; Release date: June 2007;