Charlie Lovell-Jones: Walton

The Strad Issue: May 2025

Description: Another chapter in a soloist’s evolving partnership with an ensemble

Musicians: Charlie Lovell-Jones (violin) Sinfonia of London/John Wilson

Works: Walton: Violin Concerto; Symphonic Suite from Troilus and Cressida (arr.Palmer); Portsmouth Point Overture

Catalogue number: CHANDOS CHSA5360

Charlie Lovell-Jones opens Walton’s Violin Concerto with sweet, languid, long-breathed phrases, expansive and sensual. Once he hits the semiquavers in the subito molto più mosso he really gets stuck in, snapping at the accents with gleeful vigour, culminating in the cadenza in which he deftly winds down from Walton’s fff to a warm and lethargic pianissimo.

His phrasing is always fluid, pliant and richly expressive. He dashes through the opening section of the second-movement Presto with energy and joie de vivre. In the trio he partners the solo horn with nonchalant, flexible lyricism, and plays the creamy double-stopped melody with a nice touch of the erotic. He is rich and dancing in the finale, sometimes light as a will-o’-the-wisp, at others fizzing with intoxicating energy.

At the double-stopped reappearance of the first theme from the opening movement there is underlying momentum along with its sense of nostalgic reminiscence. The virtuoso orchestra under John Wilson is in close empathetic partnership throughout, mingling colour and sensitivity.

The disc is rounded out with Christopher Palmer’s Symphonic Suite from the opera Troilus and Cressida, an all-too-rare opportunity to hear some of this fine music, and a splendidly ebullient account of Portsmouth Point. The recording is excellent, clear and vivid.

TIM HOMFRAY