WALTON, William (1902-1983)
TWO PIECES FROM HENRY V
Concert Classics Series GMCL114
Level of Difficulty
Attributing a particular level of difficulty to an orchestral piece is awkward!
A piece may be easy for the strings but difficult for the brass; it may feature a tricky instrumental solo but the other parts may be relatively straight forward. A number of the arrangements listed are designed to simplify works to some extent but composers of many original works featured did not consider difficulty when writing them.
What our levels mean:
A = for players up to UK Grade 3
B = Grade 3 to 5
C = Grade 4 to 6
D = Grade 5 to 7
E = Grade 6 to 8
F = Grade 7 and over
Our gradings should be taken only as a rough guide.
To be sure if a piece is suitable for you, take a look at the score.
Orchestration
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
William Walton was asked to write the music to accompany the 1944 Olivier film of Shakespeare's Henry V. These two pieces, which are scored for strings only, were included in both the Concert Suites put together by Sir Malcom Sargent and Muir Mathieson, but have achieved a position of their own as a pair of delicate string works. The first is a Passacaglia and represents Falstaff's death - ingeniously it is entitled "Passacaglia - The Death of Falstaff" - and the second entitled "Touch her soft lips and part" accompanies the scene where the soldiers are departing for France and bidding farewell to their lady-loves. This edition has been re-typeset but otherwise is not changed from the original edition published by Oxford University Press (now out of print). It has not been simplified and is not an arrangement.
Duration: 3½ minutes
A PACK comprises one A4 sized full score and strings 4/4/3/4/2.
Audio Sample
Click the play button below to hear a performance which has been computer-generated from the score.