01. Johannesburg Festival Overture [7'48]
02. - 04. Viola Concerto (1929, rev. 1961)* [25'58]
05. - 07. Symphony No.2 [27'41]
Lars Anders Tomter- viola, English Northern Philharmonia conducted by Paul Daniel
Naxos 8.553402 [recorded in April 1995; CD issued 1996]
[digital download; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]Recording venue: Leeds Town Hall, West Yorkshire
Recording engineer: Dave Harries; Producer: Paul Myers
Here is the second post in this series of recordings of works with orchestra by Walton made by Paul Daniel and the English Northern Philharmonia (the orchestra of Opera North) for Naxos. This series revealed Paul Daniel as one of Walton's finest interpreters.
Here he is ably assisted by Norwegian violist Lars Anders Tomter and again we have insightful and involving performances. In the case of the Viola Concerto (played in the usual 1961 revision), one of the finest recorded performances. Of course, it is almost impossible to imagine a performance of the Second Symphony that can compete with its first recording made by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra but this is still very fine. And I prefer the recorded sound here to either of two CD issues that I have heard of the Szell.