Reviews (2003—2008)
“This is probably the best performance of the Elgar Cello concerto that I have heard. Walton grips the listener with his superb timing, accuracy of intonation, beauty of tone, musical involvement, and nobility of expression. I have never heard the opening five bars of this work played so compellingly, encapsulating all that is to come…a masterly and and convincing performance…what is on the CD is good enough to last a lifetime. I really cannot praise this performance too highly. For faithfullness to the text, interpretative musicality, accuracy, ensemble and warmth and beauty of tone, Walton cannot beaten.”Elgar Society Journal
“One of the finest recordings of the Elgar. Jamie Walton has a formidable technique; his playing in the scherzo and the finale is beyond compare; and he captures the autumnal melancholy without loss of vitality. His pianissimos in the finale coda are a wonder. He has like-minded collaborators in the Philharmonia and Alexander Briger, who also support him in Myaskovsky’s sombre concerto of 1945.”Telegraph Magazine (Michael Kennedy, 5 Stars for the Elgar CD)
“First class impeccable playing…warm, passionate, refined with a fine lyrical impetus…great character and musicality.”Penguin Classical Music Guide 2008
“He has a multi-variegated vibrato which he employs with consistent subtlety. The result is a reading of real nobility and refinement, one that illuminates the music from within, and that never stretches the material too far. He maintains tension throughout the concerto and revels in the very fast bowing of the scherzo; dextrous wrist and forearm control here as he dispatches the writing with illuminating rapidity but not superficiality. It’s actually terpsichorean. He never lets the slow movement’s tempo relax too far or slacken. His expressive shading is certainly deliberately circumscribed but it is exceptionally well characterised. In his avoidance of rhetorical gestures he reminds me of the great French lineage in this work: Fournier, Navarra and Tortelier in particular. The sense of lyric nobility is palpable and admirable.
“I’ve racked my brains to think of a faster performance of the Myaskovsky concerto but I don’t believe I have. Walton’s even faster than Rostropovich in his Moscow/Kondrashin performance. I’m powerfully impressed by Walton’s playing. This is a warm, sympathetic recording, that never wallows, that remains strongly directional whilst never stinting the many lyrical episodes. There’s no lingering in the first movement second subject…linear clarity allied to tonal warmth is the guiding principle underlying this performance. Don’t expect any gauche exaggerations either. This ensures the second of the two movements—the one that usually suffers the most from over-indulgent performers—is heard as an unbroken line with a basic tempo adhered to, not inflexibly, but with musical and structural insight…seems to me to belong to the Anglo-French school in his interpretative stance in both concertos; affecting but not lachrymose, noble but not unyielding. I happen to be sympathetic to his approach and consequently find his playing admirable.”Music On The Web
“Barbirolli would have surely approved. Elgar, too, would surely have admired Walton for his restraint and nobility of tone, particularly in the two adagio passages…this very reticence makes the music’s deeply ingrained sadness even more affecting.”Mail on Sunday (David Mellor recommendation)
“For a new recording of this now universally admired masterpiece to be considered to come within the highest bracket of interpretation, you can be sure that it is indeed exceptional. The new recording by Jamie Walton is such a performance…Walton’s interpretation is one of the finest I’ve encountered, and in certain places it is the best of all. If you want to know what this work is about, hear and absorb this performance. Myaskovsky’s cello concerto is a great work…he delivers an equally moving and totally convincing reading. Good as that [Rostroprovich] recording remains, it is outclassed in sonic terms by Walton’s digital version, and in terms of interpretation, this young man is already in the same high class.”International Record Review
“This fine disc is further testimony to the musicality, maturity and insight that distinguish Jamie Walton’s cello playing; a disc that has an ineluctable power to draw you into its expressive realms.”The Telegraph
“Jamie Walton very much follows his own star. His expression is clean and uncluttered, his musicianship unusually selfless. Only the music’s will matters. The cello quakes with vibrato, but sensibly avoids floods of tears. The pensive beauty of his slow movement is very moving, under his noble carriage…this CD still stands out in a crowded field.” The Times
“Walton’s performance of the Elgar would be worth recommending on its own: this young British cellist is effortlessly accurate and, more important, emotionally engaged and engaging, especially in the Adagio. But there are plenty of good versions of the Elgar available; there are hardly any of Myaskovsky’s equally lyrical and melancholic concerto, which makes an inspired coupling. Despite living in such disparate lands and situations, these two composers shared a similar spiritual-musical world. Walton, with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Alexander Briger, deserves credit for making the point so sympathetically.” Financial Times
“A freshness of approach and of sound makes Jamie Walton’s reading of Elgar’s Cello Concerto an appealing proposition, despite the crowded market. He sees this work not simply as an orgy of expressive indulgence; instead, he measures carefully its introspection. His approach is not distant, however, but typically balanced and unselfish.” Sunday Times
“Jamie Walton’s debut concerto disc (a Saint-Saëns programme) announced a major young British cello talent. This new coupling decisively confirms that initial impression. Walton’s Elgar, in particular, is rivetingly direct in impact, casting aside generations of reverential interpretive luggage, and providing a direct line into the heart of this unquiet masterpiece.
“Walton’s interpretation of the concerto is entirely shorn of bogus sentiment, uncovering a finer differentation of emotions than any other player in my experience. There is, of course, plenty of introspection, yet Walton also highlights in the finale scampering passages of incipient elation, as well as sudden stabs of anger and defiance sharply reflected in Alexander Briger’s strongly shaped account of the orchestral accompaniment.
“It helps that Walton’s technique is of truly stellar dimensions: the horrendously taxing Scherzo, for instance, is stunningly articulated, indeed something of a revelation. There are no easy answers in Walton’s interpretation, no sweeping of uncomfortable discontinuities beneath the carpet. As such it absolutely demands repeated listening.
“The Myaskovsky concerto, a work much less familiar to UK audiences, is an imaginative coupling, its patiently unfolding opening Lento movement allowing Walton’s 1712 Guarneri to sing out gloriously. Predominantly dark-hued and ruminative, it’s a cunningly chosen partner to the Elgar, capping the attractions of a disc which will surely bring the name of Jamie Walton to a very much wider public.” Muso Magazine (Star CD of the Month)
“These are the finest recordings of Saint-Saëns’ two cello concertos that I’ve heard since Steven Isslerlis’ on RCA in the 1990s. In fact, the presence of both concertos and the wonderful first sonata on the same disc might make this new release preferable. Parts of the A minor concerto can sound vapid. Not here. Walton invests the whole work with poetry and passion, dignifying even its most facile sections. His Saint-Saëns is one of the finest around. The more elusive second cello concerto in D minor is winningly played. Walton produces the most glorious tone and his heart-warming playing is matched by the warmth of Briger’s sympathetic support. The Swan, with Daniel Grimwood and the sonata that precedes it… throws into focus the remarkable rapport between these two gifted players. The sonata keeps the impressively agile Grimwood busy, in a performance that makes this promising chamber music partnership one to be reckoned with.” Classic FM Magazine (5 stars orchestral CD of the month/"A New Champion for Saint-Saëns.")
“For all their improvisatory inflexions, for all their wide dynamic range, for all their tonal extravagance, they manage to maintain a soothing lyrical poise. The result is a lucid conversation without confrontation, a finely wrought performance that achieves a bold expressivity without tonal roughness or emotional hyperactivity.
“It says much for Walton that his readings stand the closest comparison with those of Isserlis, both in expressive imagination and virtuosity.” Gramophone Magazine
“Marvellously perceptive and discriminating performances by British cellist Jamie Walton—the second concerto is little short of revelatory, Walton making triumphant music of the work’s fiendish technical difficulties.” Muso Magazine
“Jamie Walton is a marvellous player whose musical intelligence and beauty of sound are a delight throughout—Walton produces a particularly copmelling tone with a quiet ardour that seems just right.”International Record Review
“Walton’s prizewinning tone—I would put him among the true greats.” The Strad
“Hauntingly lovely and played with a very pure, focused tone—the technically challenging second concerto shows off more of his formidable technique.
“Walton marks himself out as a gifted interpreter, his technical mastery and sonorous tone always at the service of the music…an artful blend of tenderness and sweeping passion. Moving as one with the ebb and flow of the music’s phrasing, he shows perfect control…exuberant and imaginative; eloquent and spirited.”The Strad
“Classical CD of the week: It is good to have a cellist of Jamie Walton’s calibre championing the two Saint-Saëns concertos—these performances deserve to be at the top of anybody’s list
“Magnificent cello, magnificently played—Jamie Walton has always proved that he can make you sit up and take note of his sheer musicality as much as his technical acuity, and here his sense of style and character seems to have developed even further. He has found in Daniel Grimwood a pianist who ideally complements his interpretative thoughts and helps to forge a true partnership. As to the two sonatas, you would have to go a long way to hear such gripping performances in which cello and piano were so finely matched in personality and the music’s temperament communicated so compellingly.
“Young and gifted, Jamie Walton produces a glorious, rich and expressive tone. He has given some outstanding recitals over the past few years—moreover, Walton has the strength of musicianship to assert his own personality on these performances. In both sonatas the sense of line is finely judged—smooth, lyrical, with a flow that follows the natural contours of the music. You only have to listen to the slow movement of the Chopin to hear their sympathetic appreciation of melodic shape and emotional inflection. The performance has terrific rhythmic character, with the finesse that the music demands. The Rachmaninoff Sonata finds a potent blend of poise and passion. In quiet moments there is an ethereal beauty to Walton’s shading, set in its proper context of a performance of Romantic ardour and sensitivity to the sonata’s temperament.
“Walton, and his finely matched pianist, Daniel Grimwood, have mature interpretations of their own so that you are drawn right into what they themselves have to say about this intriguingly ambiguous music rather than harking back to the dedicatee. Walton’s rich, seasoned tone, and his ardour, warms the lyricism…striking to the very heart of the music’s character. With a fusion of musicality, virtuosity and sensibility these are outstanding performances.” Daily Telegraph
Jamie is represented by Jonathan Cooke Limited.