JAVS Spring 2006

WALTON VIOLA CONCERTO: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Companion to The Walton Viola Concerto: A Synthesis, by James F. Dunham

Dalton, David. Playing the Viola: Conversarions with William Primrose. London: Oxford University Press, 1988. A ''musr have" book for the alert violist. Wdl wri rren with excellent questions and answers; a real insider's look at the performan ce and reaching technigues of this outstandi ng soloist. Tr is also a t reat to "hea r" rhe lyri c cadence o f t!Lis Gne Scorsman's speech. The Selected Letters ofWilliam Walro n, ed. Malcolm Hayes . London: Faber and Faber Limi led, 2002. This recent book at last allows ;m exceptional look in to the inner world of William Walton. It al lows us ro see him in his own words and as he rea lly was: in turn serious, humorous, cheeky, clever, and always caring. Beautifully collected and presented with well- researched int roductions to each section. Howes, frank. T he Music ofWilliam Walron. London: Oxford Universiry Press, 2nd Ed , 1974. A deta iled look at the music ofWalton, written while Sir W illiam was still living. Well researched and presented . This is an outstanding biography. Anyone with an inrerest in Walton wi ll want to own it. It is informative, insightfu l, written wirh personali ty and humani ry. Tf you can have only one book on Walron , this is it . Lloyd, Stephen. Wi lliam Walton: Muse of Fire. London: T he Boydcll Press, 200 I . A recenr addiri on. Thoroughly reseuched, crisp and informative. Skelton, Geoffrey. Paul Hindemith: The Man Behind the Music. London: Victor Gollancz, 1975. A rhorough and classic biography with many important insights. A fine cross-reference due to the fri endship of these two superb composers. Kennedy, Michael . Portrait ofWalron. London: Oxfo rd Universiry Press, 1990.

1\ rad, Arar. "Walton as Scapino." The Strad. I 00 (February 1989), 138- 141. Atar Arad, my predecesso r in rhe C leveland Quartet, carries forward wo rk begun in 1964 by P. J. Pri ce ("Scapino: 1he Development of W illiam Walton") and continued by B. No rthcott in 1982 ("In Sea rch ofWa lron") . T he prem i~e i~ that, not only did Walton borrow certa in formal ideas from Prokofi ev's l~ irs t Violin Concerto- he used the pi ece as an overt model and wrote the Viola Concerto as an actu al "analog" of the Prokofiev! Mr. Arad gives a nearly note-by- note comparison and makes a ve ry compelling case for this view. l r is also sug gested that Walton was trying to foo l the schol ars. (Mr. Price quotes: "Scapino: ro escape"- mild enough - I fou nd "King of Con Men"! Bu r in Mol iere's o riginal 167 1 farce, Scapino himself srates "The vulga r wou ld call me a con man . I would call myself an ar tist.") The practi ce of wri ting analogs is a common technigue among composers, though it is true rhar W::~ l to n never acknowledged thi s .~ee rningl y obvious connec tion . [s rhe cl ever Walton also stating "1 am an 1\ rrisr.. ."? Burton, Humphrey & Maureen Mu rray. W illiam Walton: T he Romanric T.one r, A Centenary Portrait Album. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. A luscious picture book, fill ed with a treasure rrove of photographic memorabili a, as well as informative and well written commenrary. A beautiful collecror's item. Meikle, Robert. "The Symphonies and Concerros." William Walton: Music and Literarure. ed. Srewan R. Craggs. Aldershor: Ashgate, 1999. A collecrion of essays by many important wri ters and musici

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