Walton: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; Orb and Sceptre (Live) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Kazuki Yamada

• William Walton (1902 - 1983): Orb and Sceptre "Coronation March":
• 1 Walton: Orb and Sceptre "Coronation March" (Live) 07:23
• Symphony No. 1:
• 2 Walton: Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro assai (Live) 15:00
• 3 Walton: Symphony No. 1: II. Presto, con malizia (Live) 06:35
• 4 Walton: Symphony No. 1: III. Andante (Live) 11:27
• 5 Walton: Symphony No. 1: IV. Maestoso – Brioso ed ardentemente (Live) 13:06
• Symphony No. 2:
• 6 Walton: Symphony No. 2: I. Allegro molto (Live) 09:19
• 7 Walton: Symphony No. 2: II. Lento assai (Live) 11:04
• 8 Walton: Symphony No. 2: III. Passacaglia. Theme, Variations, Fugato & Coda (Live) 09:00
• Total Runtime 01:22:54

Info for Walton: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; Orb and Sceptre (Live)

For his first recording with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Kazuki Yamada opted for three works by William Walton, English music seeming a good choice for an English orchestra. The two symphonies illustrate different stages in Walton’s career, before and after World War II. Twenty-five years lie between Walton's powerful First Symphony, premiered in 1935, and his more contemplative Second Symphony, dedicated to Georg Szell. Regarded today as one of the most ‘British’ composers of the 20th century, Walton began as an avant-gardist but increasingly placed himself within the English musical tradition of Elgar and Vaughan Williams from the 1930s onwards. This earned him commissions for royal occasions, such as the 'Orb and Sceptre' march for the coronation of Elizabeth II, whose 100th birthday we will commemorate in 2026. Kazuki Yamada, who will also become chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2026, on his collaboration with the CBSO: 'They have a special telepathy, a sixth sense. We can feel each other in the music, even without words. It’s a real partnership, like a family. They welcomed me from the beginning, and now it’s like a love story.'

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Kazuki Yamada, conductor

Kazuki Yamada
is the Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Alongside his commitments in Birmingham, he is also Artistic and Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (OPMC) and will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) from the 2026/2027 season.

His time under the close supervision of Seiji Ozawa served to underline the importance of what Kazuki Yamada calls his “Japanese feeling” for classical music. Born in 1979 in Kanagawa, Japan, he continues to work and performs in Japan every season with the most renowned orchestras such as the Japan Philharmonic and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, among others.

During his tenure as Music Director, Yamada has regularly taken both the CBSO and OPMC for a series of concerts on tour around Japan, most recently with the former in summer 2025. Yamada’s passionate and collaborative approach to conducting means he commands a busy international diary of concerts, opera, and choral conducting. The current season begins with his return to the BBC Proms in summer 2025 with the CBSO, with whom he embarks on another European Tour in March 2026, closely followed by his return to Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2026 Yamada also conducts the Monte Carlo Opera in a production of Debussy ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’.

He makes debut appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker. In addition, Yamada continues regular guesting commitments with Oslo Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Yamada performs with distinguished soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Leif Ove Andsnes, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Martin Helmchen, Nobuko Imai, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Alexandre Kantorow, Evgeny Kissin, Yunchan Lim, Bruce Liu, Maria João Pires, Julian Pregardien, Baiba Skride, Fazıl Say, Arabella Steinbacher, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Krystian Zimerman, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

Strongly committed to his role as an educator, Yamada appears annually as a guest artist at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland and is strongly committed to the CBSO’s outreach programme. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international concert halls reaffirmed his belief that – in his words – “The audience is always involved in making the music.

As a conductor, I need an audience there as much as the musicians “. Yamada studied music at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he discovered a love for both Mozart and the Russian romantic repertory. He first achieved international attention upon receiving first prize in the 51 st International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in 2009. Having lived in Japan for most of his life, Kazuki Yamada now resides in Berlin.

Booklet for Walton: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; Orb and Sceptre (Live)