April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. We’ll honor the Bard on “Picture Perfect” over the coming weeks with music from film adaptations of his plays.
William Walton may be the composer most associated with the cinematic Bard, thanks to his collaborations with Laurence Olivier. While Walton participated in three superb Olivier productions, beginning with “Henry V” in 1944, and continuing with “Hamlet” in 1948 and “Richard III” in 1955, the two had actually been brought together on an earlier Shakespeare project, in which Olivier appeared solely as an actor – a very charming version of “As You Like It.” The 1936 film was directed by Paul Czinner and starred his wife, Elisabeth Bergner, as Rosalind. Olivier appeared as the love-struck Orlando.
Walton’s “Henry V” would become one of the most celebrated film scores of all time, certainly in terms of a so-called concert composer working in the cinema. The music is best known in a concert arrangement by Muir Mathieson, who conducted the orchestra on the film’s actual soundtrack. We’ll hear a recording that restores the composer’s original orchestration AND incorporates the chorus, as in the film.
For Walton’s work on Olivier’s 1948 adaptation of “Hamlet,” the composer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The film won four Oscars in all, including that for Best Picture. Olivier directed himself in an Academy Award-winning performance. It was the first foreign film to be honored as Best Picture.
Finally, we’ll turn to “Richard III,” from 1955, by which time both Olivier and Walton could be addressed as “Sir.” (Olivier was knighted in 1947; Walton received his knighthood in 1951.) Olivier gives a wry performance as the scheming Duke of Gloucester. While he very much enjoyed their ongoing partnership, Walton felt there was a limit to just how many ceremonial fanfares and battle charges he could compose. Across the head of the score he inscribed the instruction, in Italian, “Con prosciutto, agnello e confitura di fragole” – “With ham, lamb and strawberry jam.” Nevertheless, he manages to turn in yet another superb score.
I hope you’ll join me for an hour of fanfares and battle charges, with an interlude of brooding over the skull of Yorick, this Friday evening at 6 EDT, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
Here’s an appreciation of Walton’s Shakespearean achievements that ran in The Telegraph during the composer’s centenary in 2002, rightly noting his influence on John Williams:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3574714/The-last-great-movie-composer.html
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