Walton Henry V - Scenes From The Film, And Other Film Music

This is a marvellously inspiriting (and cheap!) CD. The highlight is Walton's wonderful war-time score for Olivier's "Henry V" with Olivier himself delivering the narration. This was perhaps both Walton's and Olivier's finest contribution to raising morale during the dark days of World War Two. The film might be seen as a piece of wartime propaganda but it is a fine film in its own right (you could say much the same about Eisenstein's and Prokofiev's collaborations on Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible). Henry V is Walton's greatest film music score and there have been several more recent recordings with Christopher Plummer, Michael Sheen and even John "Bergerac" Nettles with a reduced orchestra. All are good, especially the Neville Marriner/Christopher Plummer recording on Chandos but every self-respecting Walton collection should include this disc despite the age of the recording as it conveys a unique authenticity and is very moving. The CD also contains Walton's scores for Richard the Third and the famous "Spitfire Prelude and Fugue". Walton conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra with unique insight and as there is over 75 minutes of music on the album, this is not to be missed.