of the melody. The scherzo returns, and after the cellos repeat the horn theme from the start of the canzonetta the movement ends quietly. 3. Vivace: The rondo finale has three main subjects. Both Howes and Palmer describe the first as "gruff" and the second as "shrill". The first is played by the lower strings, joined by the bassoons and clarinets in a march-like theme, in which the soloist joins. The third theme is lyrical and there is a continuing contrast between the two elements. The solo violin then plays a variant of the opening theme of the first movement, with the first theme of the finale now serving as its ostinato accompaniment, before an accompanied cadenza and a final alla marcia. Critical reception Walton was keenly aware at the time when he was composing the concerto that musical fashion seemed to turning against him: Rodziński, conductor of the premiere, considered the piece "absolutely one of the finest violin concertos ever written", but when the work had its British premiere The Times was non-committal about whether it matched Walton's Viola Concerto, and thought it "perhaps a little lacking in originality" though praising its "haunting affinity" with Elgar's Violin Concerto. A 1946 study of contemporary British music described the Violin Concerto as failing to match the spiritual depth of Walton's Symphony composed a decade earlier, and not quite achieving a satisfactory balance between "the sensual and intellectual appeal of his music". More recently, opinion has generally been more favourable. A 1994 survey described the concerto as "most attractive of all Walton's music". In the 2001 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Byron Adams writes, "The Violin Concerto is an ingenious reconciliation of the demands of virtuosity and Romantic expressiveness. … it shares the same basic formal plan of the Viola Concerto, consisting of a fleet scherzo flanked by two larger movements. The orchestral colour of the Violin Concerto, however, is brighter than that of the earlier work, the themes more extroverted and the harmonies more luscious." In a 2014 analysis published by the BBC the concerto is ranked with the Viola Concerto, Belshazzar's Feast and the First Symphony as one of the "large-scale masterpieces on which … Walton's reputation securely rests". Recordings Notes, references and sources Notes References Sources Compositions by William Walton Walton, William 1939 compositions