Walton & Barber Violin Concertos

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Thomas Bowes - violin; Malmö Opera Orchestra; Joseph Swensen - conductor; William Walton (1902-1983); Samuel Barber (1910-1981); ©2011 Signum Classics

Signum: “Walton’s Violin Concerto was composed during a stay at the stunning Villa Cimbrone on Italy’s Amalfi coast, and reflects this environment in different ways – some more apparent than others (the 2nd movement is based on a ‘tarantella’, after Walton suffered a tarantula bite whilst there). The piece has endured as one of his most popular works, and is contrasted here by Barber’s Violin Concerto and famous Adagio for Strings.

Making his debut recording as a soloist on Signum, Thomas Bowes has built a firm reputation as an orchestral leader, soloist and chamber musician. He has also concert-mastered many film scores – the most recent credit being for “The King’s Speech.” The Malmö Opera Orchestra and conductor Joseph Swensen join him for this recording.”

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“A masterly account … with Bowes essaying flickering rhapsodic moments, assailed by striking orchestral flourishes” – The Independent

“Bowes yields to none of the Walton’s great interpreters – Heifetz (the dedicatee), Menuhin, Franccscatti, Chung, Kennedy – in his dazzling passage work … with his gorgeous portamento and rubato” – Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times

“What is so remarkable about Bowes as a soloist is not just his technical assurance, his flawless intonation over the widest range, tonal and dynamic, but his natural feeling for warmly romantic expressiveness … Altogether a resounding success” – Edward Greenfield, Gramophone Magazine

“Thomas Bowes: sensitive, refined, thoughtful, elegant, as well as brilliant, even flamboyant… captures every aspect of this concerto almost to perfection... He yields to no-one in terms of sensitivity and technical mastery.” - Piers Burton-Page, BBC Radio 3

“The Barber is one of my favourite concertos… and Bowes plays with a wispy elegance… The second movement is gorgeous, and here has both vulnerability and inner steel. The finale is just a roast from beginning to end, Bowes flying at a million miles an hour and Swensen and the orchestra going along for the ride. It’s pretty thrilling.” - Bernard Hughes, The Arts Desk