he Coronation Te Deum.makes an excellent coupling., with Solti emphasizing crispness and clarity, Gibson bringing out the urgency at faster tempi. After that the hush of "The trumpeters and pipers are silent" is the more effective for its straightness and hint of detachment. The tempi for the final section of thanksgiving remain unusually fast, but there is no hint of breathlessness, and one benefit of Solti's tempi is that the hushed section "While the kings of the earth" (during which fast movement continues on the upper strings) requires hardly any edging of the speed forward but remains almost exactly a tempo. But where at the live performance I was concerned that the final "Alleluias", exhilarating as they were, came over a little hectically, that is a reservation which has completely disappeared from my book. In that it reflects the live performance at the Royal Festival Hall which Solti directed last March just before Sir William's 75th birthday, using substantially the same forces as here.
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Fresh, scintillating and spiky, it is a performance which gives off electric sparks in every direction, not quite idiomatic in some ways but immensely invigorating. Though the demands of atmosphere and story-telling are not neglected, they are relatively of less importance. Whether or not Sir Georg Solti was aware of that obiter dictum, he directs a performance which clearly brings out that symphonic basis, concentrating on musical incisiveness.
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Latterly Sir William Walton has suggested that Belshazzar's Feast, usually described as an oratorio if a very compressed one, is in reality a choral symphony. Solti gives a distinctive performance, sharply focused to give one a uniquely refreshing view of Belshazzar's Feast, Chung gets to the heart of the Violin Concerto, demonstrating its toughness as well as its soul-searching lyrical warmth. Walton - Belshazzar's Feast ∙ Violin Concerto ∙ Coronation Te Deum (2010)Ĩ Then Sing Aloud To God Our Strength 4:25ġ0 Then Sing Aloud To God Our Strength 4:15ġ2 II Presto capricciosa alla napolitanaĖ:39