for a few years he enjoyed celebrity, including participating in a recording of william walton's "façade" with edith sitwell. lambert's best-known composition is "the rio grande" (1927) for piano and alto soloists, chorus, and orchestra of brass, strings and percussion. it achieved success, and lambert made two recordings of the piece as conductor (1930 and 1949). he had a great interest in african-american music, and once said that he would have ideally liked "the rio grande" to feature a black choir.