If We Are Moved....

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 353, 29 March 1946, Page 13

If We Are Moved....

[_ISTENING lately to some of William Walton’s work, notably the Viola Concerto, I decided that in the field of musical criticism anybody’s word is as good as anybody else’s. But it becomes difficult for the average listener if he hears one critic lauding a work which another critic derides. In this case let the bewildered listener have enough courage to make his own decision. In a hundred years from now he may be proved wrong, but so, of course, will one of the two critics; and since by that time the listener, critics, and composer will be dead in any case, what ‘has one to lose by coming out in the open with a bold opinion one way or the other? Walton himself has given listeners a sensible enough yardstick for the measurement of their appreciation. He says, "I am afraid that to-day much unsuccessful experiment secures the recognition of public performance, to the bewilderment of listeners eager to go all the way with those who set the pace for them. If. we are honest with ourselves, however, we have our criterion. If we are moved as by great poetry, for us the work is good-it is art." Judged by this standard, Walton’s own works must inevitably take their place among the great works of modern music.