William Walton Viola Concerto

The work

Walton’s Viola Concerto established at a stroke his unique creative voice. For several years he had tried distilling the dazzling stylistic range of his Façade (1921) into a convincing long-range structure. There are hints of what was to come in the Portsmouth Point overture and orchestral Siesta, as well as 1927’s Sinfonia Concertante for piano and orchestra. Yet, as The Times remarked as part of a generally enthusiastic review of the latter, ‘Mr. Walton has not yet fully found his individuality’.

In 1928, on a winter holiday in Amalfi,.