Andrew Litton - Walton Belshazzar's Feast & Suite from Henry V AA...

AllMusic Info

Walton: Belshazzar's Feast Review by James Leonard

There are good reasons for considering William Walton's oratorio Belshazzar's Feast his masterpiece. Although relatively short in duration, it is massively scored for baritone soloist, gargantuan mixed choir, immense orchestra and two off-stage brass bands. But it is more merely than loud: it treats a great subject -- hubris and nemesis -- with strength and sensitivity; it unites the English choral tradition going back to Handel with Walton's individual modernity; it was instantly acclaimed at its premiere and has remained a staple of the choral repertoire ever since. And, mostly, it's tremendously exciting and even deeply affecting.

Andrew Litton's recording with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and baritone Bryn Terfel just about confirms the work's stature. In almost every way that matters, Litton's performance is dead-on. He maneuvers his forces through the complex score with aplomb. He obtains superb playing from the orchestra and even more superb singing from the chorus. Bryn Terfel, at the beginning of his career, sings wonderfully and without the affected mannerisms that have marred his later performances. Technically, Litton's Belshazzar's Feast is as good as it gets.

Interpretively, it is nearly as good as it gets. Litton's sculpting of the of the great chorus "If I forget thee" is magnificent. Litton's massive hymn of praise to the god of gold is terrifically exciting. And at the moment Belshazzar dies, Terfel's mighty melisma and the chorus's terrified shout are terrifically effective. The only complaint is that Litton's performance lacks rhythmic thrust, that Walton's frequent syncopated, jazz-inflected rhythms seem to have been flattened out in Litton's performance, thereby dulling the rhythmic point of the work.

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