Between CD and LP, I'm well into double figures for recordings of Belshazzar, from the one I first heard - the old Boult Nixa, with its close miked bass piano notes below the chorus's repeated 'wept' (once heard, never forgotten) through the stereo Walton, the stunning LSO/Previn with J S-Q, the less stunning RPO/Previn and Ormandy, Loughran, Gibson, Solti, A Davis (twice) and Hickox among the field; apart from the first three the only other one I spin regularly is to mind the best recorded of all, the Telarc with Robert Shaw and his Atlanta forces, a very big performance. Have a feeling that it's out of the catalogue now,* but if you find a second-hand copy, check the final bars; on its first release, the chorus sang an unsanctioned 'Amen' doubling some brass chords just before the end - enough to stop it winning an otherwise deserved top spot in a late eighties BAL; later pressings have the standard ending as published: no choir.

*Maybe not: certainly still available across the pond.....

http://www.amazon.com/Walton-Belshazzars-Bernstein-Chichester-Psalms/dp/B000003CV7/ref=sr_1_155/105-7500689-2370000?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173287779&sr=1-155

Belshazzar was one of the first pieces I really got to know with the score (vocal score only I'm afraid), being an A-level set work when I was doing mine. I don't think it was the only option on the syllabus, actually, but seeing as I was born and brought up in Oldham and went to the school where Walton's brother had taught music, it must have been a fairly natural choice.

I think it's great. Maybe it is a bit theatrical, and certainly not groundbreaking, but it's pretty irresistible, especially since I can still remember large chunks of it from memory and sing along whenever I hear it.

My absolute favourite Walton piece, though, is the Violin Concerto, which is tremendous, and which I commend to all on, erm, r3ok.myforum365