Film soundtracks from Flashdance to Gallipoli have called upon the stately spare sadness of Albinoni’s Adagio, so much so that it has been denuded of meaning. The work itself isn’t even authentic.

American composer George Walker's music gets taken out of context this hour, and that's a good thing. Like Samuel Barber's famous Adagio for Strings, Walker's "Lyric for Strings" started life as the ...