Antiphon, for chorus & organ

• Date: 1977
• Composer: William Walton
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

If one is to take William Walton at his word, not much should be expected of his Antiphon from 1977. Scored for chorus and organ, the piece was composed during a time of particular difficulty in the composer's life. Following the London performance of Walton's revised version of the opera Troilus and Cressida, the composer fell quite ill, suffering from lightheadedness, fainting, and even hallucinations. He had to suspend or cancel several commissions, but with the help of some miraculous acupuncture therapy, he managed to complete the Antiphon in time for the 150th anniversary of St. Paul's Church in Rochester, NY. "It has taken me a lot of bother," Walton wrote to a friend while working on the piece. "How stupid I am to worry, but I find I've a great antipathy for the organ and don't know how to write for the bloody thing...And for only 1,000 dollars. I must be mad."

Luckily, Walton is rarely taken at his word when talking about his own music, as his self-deprecating tone is usually quite misleading. Taking as its text George Herbert's Let All the World in Ev'ry Corner Sing, Walton's Antiphon is a brief but poignant song of praise, set in a jubilant style somewhat similar to that of Walton's ceremonial marches, though appropriately tempered for a sacred context. The declamation of the text is more straightforward than in some of his other choral works (such as the a cappella Where Does the Uttered Music Go?), with pictorial renderings that rarely obstruct the words themselves. Ascending figures accompany Herbert's insistence that "The heav'ns are not to high," while pitch and dynamics recede to depict the earthy depths to which divine grace is also said to descend. The grandiose refrain with which the piece begins also separates the two verses, and likewise reappears at the end, slightly expanded and drawn out, to bring the piece to a close.

Incidentally, if one insists on believing Walton's misgivings about his ability to compose for organ, Christopher Palmer's arrangement of the piece, used in the 1991 Chandos recording, features a colorful reorchestration of the organ part involving brass, harp, tympani, and percussion. ~ Jeremy Grimshaw, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
British Choral Music of the 20th Century	2001
Make We Joy: Christmas Music by Holst & Walton	1987
Sir William Walton: The Complete Works	1995
Sir William Walton: The Complete Works	1995
The Sacred Choral Music
Walton: Choral Music	2002
Walton: Choral Works	1993
William Walton: Coronation Te Deum and other choral music	2002
William Walton: In Honour of the City of London; Fanfares and Marches; Jubilate Deo; Antiphon; 4 Christmas Carols	1991

Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Walton: Choral Works	1993

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