Commissioned in 1968, as part of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's 125th anniversary festivities, William Walton's Capriccio Burlesco takes on the character of the wide-eyed observer, not unlike Gershwin's An American in Paris or even Walton's own In Honour of the City of London. In fact, Walton had been asked in 1938 to write a New York counterpart to the London piece, but had been unable to do so because of other commitments; coming three decades later, the Capriccio originally bore the title Philharmonic Overture N.Y. '68. More than one writer, in noticing the multitude of thematic materials and wide-ranging palette of orchestrational colors that characterize the Capriccio Burlesco, hears the work as a vibrant sonic cityscape. A lively triple meter predominates the short work, which runs under eight minutes if taken at a good clip. The frequent use of rests on downbeats followed by quick note divisions and syncopations beginning on subsequent upbeats give the impression of a kind of hectic Brooklyn Bolero, with themes tossed back and forth across instrumental sections in a way that likewise reminds one of Ravel's coloristic orchestration, though Walton's tendency toward gestural exaggeration and rhythmic drive might resonate more closely with Copland. Frequently, Walton challenges the metric flow by mapping 6/8 rhythms (that is, two groups of three beats) onto the prevailing meter (three groups of two beats), which likewise adds to the overall variegated character of the piece. In fact, one is hard-pressed to hum a prominent line from the Capriccio, even after a couple of listens. It is not that the piece is unmelodious, but that it has so many themes, all drawing on similar motivic and rhythmic elements, that one might more easily remember what happens to a musical fragment—hastily bounced across successive octaves from the highest violin range to the depths of the basses, or stated by one instrumental group and echoed in caricature by another—than what that fragment actually constituted. Such ideas all combine in the memory to comprise a precise and engaging mood rather than a singable melody, just as the city itself might leave an impression more than an image.

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