Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Walker, in conversation with his son Gregory. Today, the tragedy of the Charleston church massacre inspires Walker’s last work.

George Walker had a tendency to play things close to his chest, even where his loved ones were concerned. Gregory Walker relates how the first time he became aware that his father had been working on a new violin concerto was when it turned up in the post one morning. Not only that, he was to give the première the following month – not with some local band, but with one of the world’s great orchestras, the Philadelphia! Gregory Walker talks movingly about his father's tearful reaction to the work’s first play-through; his character, by turns formal, affectionate, passionate, emotional, often angry; and about the experience of seeing him grapple with his swansong, the Sinfonia No 5, subtitled ‘Visions’, which he embarked on at the age of 93: “It was unforgettable to see someone who’d been a child prodigy, someone who had prided himself on keeping track of the most complex compositional concepts and trying to push himself beyond those complexities with each succeeding piece, reach a point where he was realising he could hardly do it anymore.”

Icarus in Orbit
Sinfonia da Camera
Ian Hobson, conductor

Piano Sonata No 5
Robert Pollock, piano

Da Camera, for piano trio, harp, celesta, string orchestra and percussion
Rochelle Sennet, piano
Sherban Lupu, violin
Brandon Vamos, cello
Sinfonia da Camera
Ian Hobson, conductor

Violin Concerto (2nd mvt)
Gregory Walker, violin
Ian Hobson, conductor
Sinfonia Varsovia

Bleu
Gregory Walker, violin

Sinfonia No 5 (‘Visions’)
Sinfonia Varsovia
Ian Hobson, conductor

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales Show less