Few English compositions have been as eagerly awaited as William Walton's first symphony. After the wit of Façade (1923) and Portsmouth Point (1926), the lyrical beauty of the Viola Concerto (1929) and the splendour of Belshazzar's Feast (1931), expectations were high that the enfant terrible of 1930s English music would produce something very special.

It was commissioned by Hamilton Harty for his Hallé orchestra in January 1932. Initially work was very slow, and it was obvious by December 1932 that the premiere planned for April 1933 would have to be postponed. However early 1933 saw good progress and by the summer the first two movements were complete. The slow movement followed and by October the beginning and end of the last movement were also complete. Unfortunately Walton now got stuck and could find no satisfactory completion for the finale. Harty had by now moved to London and the LSO, and had announced a revised premiere for March 1934. Walton had to call this off, too, but his continuing difficulty with the last movement resulted in the LSO persuading him to allow a performance in December 1934 of the first three movements only. This performance, on 3rd December 1934, achieved a notable success, and there were two further performances of the unfinished symphony in April 1935 under Malcolm Sargent. Walton then resumed work on the finale. He later said that it had been his friend Constant Lambert's idea to use a fugue in the central section. When Walton objected that he did not know how to write one (he never completed his music degree at Oxford!) Lambert suggested "There is a rather good article on fugues in Grove's Musical Dictionary". So Walton wrote the fugue, with Grove at his elbow! He finished the movement at the end of August 1935, and the long awaited premiere of the complete symphony was given by the London Symphony Orchestra under Hamilton Harty on 6th November, 1935.

Critics have never agreed about the symphony. Composer John Ireland called it "the work of a true master, in the real symphonic tradition. It is colossal, grand, original and moving to the emotions to the most extreme degree" while Benjamin Britten condemned it for its "pretentiousness and its abominable scoring". It may have stylistic affinities with Sibelius in its use of long pedal notes and its sinuous melodies (particularly the opening); it may have similarities to Prokofiev in its emotional lyricism and pungent harmony (particularly in the slow movement). What is undeniable is its relentless drive and energy, which are quite unique.

It is interesting to note that the published score is dedicated to Baroness Imma von Doernberg, with whom Walton had lived and been much in love since 1931. Imma left him in 1933, before the completion of the symphony, and even though he was soon in a relationship with Alice Wimborne, he still kept the dedication to Imma.

There are three main themes in the first movement: the winding oboe tune at the opening, a long and slower moving violin tune which seems to have no end, and a more angular theme on violas and cellos. But the movement is underpinned harmonically by the interval of a minor 7th, built on top of a fifth and sixth, as picked out by the horns at the very beginning. This appears in many forms through the movement, which is driven onward by a rhythmic energy quite shattering in its impact.

The scherzo is marked "with malice" and everything is indeed spiteful, bitter and twisted. As a scherzo it is unusual, with no obvious formal structure, and where no tune is played the same twice. The fast 3/4 tempo, frequent and almost random offbeat accents, sudden silences, occasional bars of the wrong length, sudden volume changes: all combine to give a relentless and manic rush which leaves listener (and player!) exhausted.

The slow movement is marked "melancholy", perhaps in reaction to the bitter malice which preceded it. The desolate flute melody at the start, as bleak as Shostakovich, offers little comfort. The movement swells gradually to a passionate and emotional climax before fading to the faltering pulse with which it began.

The finale is multi-sectioned: a ceremonial introduction soon gives way to the fast main body of the movement. This in turn leads to the fugue section, where an angular and energetic theme is passed first from violas to violins, then to cellos and basses, before being developed into a big climax. The tempo then changes to a faster triple time, and the music drives onward to the coda. Walton has kept one trump up his sleeve, and the percussion and second timpanist finally join the fray for the closing peroration whose final bars are punctuated by unexpected silences between the hammer blow chords.