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Henry V - William Walton

This music was written as part of a soundtrack to the Lawrence Olivier film. I was once asked to coach a youth orchestra on this piece and for the first session all I did was bring in my computer, and had them watch it, to experience for themselves how this music spoke in the context for which it was intended. As with most film music, our understanding can only reach so far if we have only heard it, and not ‘seen’ it with the film. When we know the full context, we are able to make more sense of the music when its heard on its own.

Sargent extracted, with Walton’s permission, four movements for a suite, involving orchestra and choir. Mathieson, the conductor of the film sessions, extracted a 5-movement, purely instrumental suite, adding the ‘Charge and Battle’ movement.

While this movement is exhilarating to watch with the film -I get goosebumps every time at just how well the picture and the music work together; the exact moment in the music where the horses break into a gallop always escapes me because the authors have again managed to completely capture and mystify me- I have found that as a concert piece, it is slightly less rewarding. It turns the 5-movement suite a meatier affair, as the Charge is bookended by slow movements, which are themselves bookended by two more high-enery movements.

Instead, I have chosen to keep the Sargent, Walton-approved structure, with the Mathieson orchestration given the non-vocal setting. ‘The Globe Playhouse’ keeps its position as an opener, ‘Agincourt Song’ the fitting finale, with a composite slow 2nd movement made up of the quiet ‘Death of Flastaff’ and even quieter ‘Touch her Soft Lips and Part’.

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