Barber/Walton: Violin Concertos

"Bowes is hardly a household name, but these exceptional accounts of Walton's and Barber's near-contemporaneous Violin Concertos...should increase his stock value...Bowes yields to none of the Walton's great interpreters...in his dazzling passage work, and he brings a deliciously laid-back italianita to the canzonetta of the middle movement with his gorgeous portamento and rubato."
(Sundat Times)

Walton's Violin Concerto was composed during a trip to Villa Cimbrone in Italy, where he was bitten by a tarantula. This is reflected in the second movement, based on a 'tarantella'. The piece has endured as one of his most popular works and is contrasted here with Barber's Violin Concerto and famous Adagio for Strings. Born in Hertfordshire and graduating from the masterclass of Bela Katona at Trinity College of Music in 1982, Thomas Bowes joined the London Philharmonic in 1985 and a year later the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In 1987 he gave his London recital debut and between 1988 and 1992 was the founding leader of the Maggini String Quartet. In 1989 he was invited to become the leader of the London Mozart Players, London's oldest established chamber orchestra, making his BBC Proms debut with them and Jane Glover in 1991. Still in great demand as a guest leader, Bowes has led many of the UK's finest orchestras In demand as a guest leader, he has led many of the UK's finest orchestras - including LSO, Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, SCO and BBC Symphony Orchestra. The Malmö Opera Orchestra and Joseph Swensen join him for this recording. Swensen has served as Principal Conductor of Malmö Opera (Sweden) since 2007 and is Conductor Emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.