Charlie Lovell-Jones is a young Welsh violinist who has become a familiar face in recent years as the Sinfonia of London’s leader – in television broadcasts of the virtuoso orchestra’s Proms performances as well as on many award-winning recordings. This album marks the auspicious start of a new Chandos cycle of Walton’s orchestral music which will include one of the three great concertos for string instruments at the heart of each disc. It therefore speaks volumes to the depth of talent present in John Wilson’s orchestra that the three soloists will be Sinfonia section leaders and not imported celebrities. And intimate collaboration is the key to this exceptional performance of the Violin Concerto in more ways than one.

Although composed in 1938 39 for Jascha Heifetz, it was always so much more than a brilliant vehicle for the world’s leading violinist. But many of even the finest performances tend to emphasise the power and virtuosity of the violin-writing at the expense of its inherent expression: for in essence it is a bittersweet and often heart-rending love song full of yearning, intimacy, regret and hope. Walton had fallen deeply in love with Alice Wimborne in 1935 and the work was written under this spell, much of it in her company at Ravello on the Amalfi coast. This fresh new account seems to take its cue from the designation sognando (‘dreamily’) over the singing solo line and never lets the instruction out of sight. Even the most dazzling passages are quicksilver in brilliance and not attention-seeking in a flashy sense. This lyrical impulse is sensitively maintained throughout and unifies the score’s symphonic underpinning with unobtrusive mastery.

Partnership is the hallmark of this performance and the solo part is articulated as if within the orchestra, as opposed to being imposed from without. So many lines of chamber-like dialogue emerge with a melting beauty of interplay, and soloist and conductor are hand-in-glove in their meticulous observation of the score’s instructions. Wilson was made for Walton and the orchestral writing has rarely been captured with such razor-sharp edge cheek-by-jowl with transparent radiance. Such qualities also imbue the rarely heard Symphonic Suite from Troilus and Cressida, where the three string soloists are heard to ravishing effect within the canvas. As for Portsmouth Point, few accounts have bristled with such rapier-like rhythmic verve and dazzling orchestral colour. Hats off to Chandos – with a first volume as impressive as this the rest are eagerly awaited.