Donald Macleod explores the life and music of George Walker, in conversation with his son Gregory. Today, commissions galore – including Walker’s first venture into symphonic form.

More than three decades after he composed his earliest acknowledged work, George Walker received his first proper commission – ‘proper’ in the sense that he was actually paid for it. He finally seemed to have arrived as a composer, and from here on in, the majority of his pieces would be commissioned. On the menu in today’s programme: a brass quintet, a cantata, a piano sonata and the first of the five works Walker termed ‘Sinfonia’, to distinguish them from the tradition of the Romantic symphony.

Music for Brass (Sacred and Profane)
American Brass Quintet

Cantata
Joyce Mathis, soprano
Walter Turnbull, tenor
Boys Choir of Harlem
Orchestra of St Luke’s
Warren Wilson, conductor

Piano Sonata No 4
Frederick Moyer, piano

Sinfonia No 1
Sinfonia Varsovia
Ian Hobson, conductor

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales Show less