Choice: Theatre

Colin Davis conducts Walton, Barbican (0171-638 8891)

Here is something for all concertgoers salivating at the prospect of Sir Colin's upcoming Sibelius cycle with the LSO this autumn. The opening and closing bars of Walton's shattering first symphony owe more than a slight debt to the Finnish symphonic master. In between, Walton whipped up his orchestral masterpiece from the throbbing, inexorable tension of the first movement to the exultant final fugue, not to mention the love- strewn romanticism of the luscious slow movement and a scherzo marked "With malice". All that and Midori playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto.