For his first recording with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Kazuki Yamada opted for three works by William Walton, English music seeming a good choice for an English orchestra. The two symphonies illustrate different stages in Walton’s career, before and after World War II. Twenty-five years lie between Walton's powerful First Symphony, premiered in 1935, and his more contemplative Second Symphony, dedicated to Georg Szell. Regarded today as one of the most ‘British’ composers of the 20th century, Walton began as an avant-gardist but increasingly placed himself within the English musical tradition of Elgar and Vaughan Williams from the 1930s onwards. This earned him commissions for royal occasions, such as the Orb and Sceptre march for the coronation of Elizabeth II, whose 100th birthday we will commemorate in 2026. Kazuki Yamada, who will also become chief conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2026, on his collaboration with the CBSO: ‘They have a special telepathy, a sixth sense. We can feel each other in the music, even without words. It’s a real partnership, like a family. They welcomed me from the beginning, and now it’s like a love story.’