Vaughan Williams's Veranda

[André]

One of my very first VW discs back in lp days. I do recall liking Dives and Lazarus from the get go, while the other two works took me a while to appreciate. I now have this program in a big VW box 

[vandermolen]

One of my very first VW discs back in lp days. I do recall liking Dives and Lazarus from the get go, while the other two works took me a while to appreciate. I now have this program in a big VW box 

Me too André. I especially like Benedicte and that fine performance of Dives and Lazarus, which I first came across on LP as well but coupled with Flos Campi and An Oxford Elegy. I remember asking my parents to get it for me one Christmas many moons ago.

[vandermolen]

BBC Music Magazine this month (December issue) has VW on the front and a feature on The Lark Ascending and a cover disc featuring a very fine performance from the 1983 Proms with Iona Brown and Elgar Howarth conducting. Oddly enough I found myself much more moved by this work than I have for many years. I thought it a rather more moving performance than the one on Argo with Neville Marriner conducting. The accompanying CD has a 'bird' theme and includes Delius's Cuckoo which I could do without, but also his 'In a Summer Garden' which I like very much and Warlock's haunting 'The Curlew' ('The boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams'). Also, I was very pleased to see a feature on the long-lived Cyril Scott, 50 years after his death.

[Roasted Swan]

BBC Music Magazine this month (December issue) has VW on the front and a feature on The Lark Ascending and a cover disc featuring a very fine performance from the 1983 Proms with Iona Brown and Elgar Howarth conducting. Oddly enough I found myself much more moved by this work than I have for many years. I thought it a rather more moving performance than the one on Argo with Neville Marriner conducting. The accompanying CD has a 'bird' theme and includes Delius's Cuckoo which I could do without, but also his 'In a Summer Garden' which I like very much and Warlock's haunting 'The Curlew' ('The boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams'). Also, I was very pleased to see a feature on the long-lived Cyril Scott, 50 years after his death.

Not that it is important in the greater scheme - but someone on another RVW forum pointed out that this cover is a really crude mash-up of a well-known headshot of RVW pasted rather poorly onto a completely different body - why bother?! - there are so many fine portrait pictures of him.....

[vandermolen]

Not that it is important in the greater scheme - but someone on another RVW forum pointed out that this cover is a really crude mash-up of a well-known headshot of RVW pasted rather poorly onto a completely different body - why bother?! - there are so many fine portrait pictures of him.....

How funny - and right I'm sure. He looks a bit too smart for VW!

I hope to play the new Hyperion CD later today.

[Biffo]

Not that it is important in the greater scheme - but someone on another RVW forum pointed out that this cover is a really crude mash-up of a well-known headshot of RVW pasted rather poorly onto a completely different body - why bother?! - there are so many fine portrait pictures of him.....

The portrait part of the image is genuine but for some reason it has been stuck on to a 'rural' background. Even more inexplicable RVW's clothing has been colourized but not his face. Here is the unadulterated thing -

https://quotesgram.com/img/ralph-vaughan-williams-quotes/4989829/

Presumably from Life magazine.

[aukhawk]

"brooding masterpiece" - brooding, really?  That is one of the last adjectives I would use for the Lark.

[Irons]

"brooding masterpiece" - brooding, really?  That is one of the last adjectives I would use for the Lark.

I have always thought the "Lark" a beautiful journey that goes nowhere - the music not bird.

I was sold by the cover and have listened to the CD. I enjoyed both the Delius pieces. Being live was a plus for the "Lark" and the late Iona Brown is superb, a worthy successor to Hugh Bean. The work I was most looking forward to was a disappointment. An advantage for the "Lark" is a polar opposite for "The Curlew" as the live recording is too close which sucks the inherent mystery and feeling of sadness out of the piece.

Perhaps only me, but I wish the BBC would cut out the applause after each work. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

"brooding masterpiece" - brooding, really?  That is one of the last adjectives I would use for the Lark.

I agree!  I love the Lark and can easily envisage a bird climbing and soaring in flight...gliding in the updrafts, sometimes beating it's wings and eventually fading out of sight.   

I used to be able to buy individual issues of the BBC Music Magazine from a couple of bookstores, but so much has changed over the years.  I'll call one locally and see whether or not they are still carrying it.  I have also subscribed to it off and on in the past too.

PD

p.s.  Haven't heard the Curlew before now.  Irons, I see, is disappointed by the recording.  How do the others here feel about it?  Just curious.

[vandermolen]

I agree!  I love the Lark and can easily envisage a bird climbing and soaring in flight...gliding in the updrafts, sometimes beating it's wings and eventually fading out of sight.   

I used to be able to buy individual issues of the BBC Music Magazine from a couple of bookstores, but so much has changed over the years.  I'll call one locally and see whether or not they are still carrying it.  I have also subscribed to it off and on in the past too.

PD

p.s.  Haven't heard the Curlew before now.  Irons, I see, is disappointed by the recording.  How do the others here feel about it?  Just curious.

I enjoyed the Curlew very much and it is Warlock's masterpiece. I take Lol's point about the recording, although I still enjoyed the performance and the CD as a whole.

[Irons]

I agree!  I love the Lark and can easily envisage a bird climbing and soaring in flight...gliding in the updrafts, sometimes beating it's wings and eventually fading out of sight.   

I used to be able to buy individual issues of the BBC Music Magazine from a couple of bookstores, but so much has changed over the years.  I'll call one locally and see whether or not they are still carrying it.  I have also subscribed to it off and on in the past too.

PD

p.s.  Haven't heard the Curlew before now.  Irons, I see, is disappointed by the recording.  How do the others here feel about it?  Just curious.

PD, as you are duel nationality in thought and taste I guarantee you will love "The Curlew". Amazing piece.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

PD, as you are duel nationality in thought and taste I guarantee you will love "The Curlew". Amazing piece.

    :)Thank you Irons; I am truly honored!  And I will check out the work.

PD

[Roasted Swan]

The portrait part of the image is genuine but for some reason it has been stuck on to a 'rural' background. Even more inexplicable RVW's clothing has been colourized but not his face. Here is the unadulterated thing -

https://quotesgram.com/img/ralph-vaughan-williams-quotes/4989829/

Presumably from Life magazine.

At the risk of starting a debate worthy of angels dancing on pinheads..... in the original picture RVW's suit is quite different from the type of cloth to the style of lapels and even the 'softness' of the fabric so it is definitely NOT just a colourised version.  Whatever the truth - its a mess of a bodge of a mash up....

[Biffo]

At the risk of starting a debate worthy of angels dancing on pinheads..... in the original picture RVW's suit is quite different from the type of cloth to the style of lapels and even the 'softness' of the fabric so it is definitely NOT just a colourised version.  Whatever the truth - its a mess of a bodge of a mash up....

Before posting I checked both images at least twice. On reading your posting I revisited them again and they are not the same. Doh!

I have numerous Larks, several Cuckoos and a Curlew - the disc wouldn't have tempted me even if I had been aware of it. I gave up on the magazine years ago - the only exception being an issue containing an interview with Sir Mark Elder which someone mentioned in this forum.

[Oates]

Just been enjoying this version of Sinfornia Antartica by New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under James Judd. This is a DVD with well-chosen but predictable footage. I don't know if the music was available separately but it seems an unusual approach - an illustrated symphony, with echoes of Scott of the Antarctic.

[vandermolen]

Just been enjoying this version of Sinfornia Antartica by New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under James Judd. This is a DVD with well-chosen but predictable footage. I don't know if the music was available separately but it seems an unusual approach - an illustrated symphony, with echoes of Scott of the Antarctic.

Looks interesting.

[pjme]

One of my very first VW discs back in lp days. I do recall liking Dives and Lazarus from the get go, while the other two works took me a while to appreciate. I now have this program in a big VW box 

"Serenade to music" was my introduction to RVW (EMI / Boult).
Hoping to find more "sweet harmony in immortal souls", I was slightly underwhelmed by the Tudor portraits. Benedicite however and Dives and Lazarus took me immediately into  higher spheres.
I found this lovely version of Benedicite on YT
https://youtu.be/b5st_NqgiW0

[Roasted Swan]

PD, as you are duel nationality in thought and taste I guarantee you will love "The Curlew". Amazing piece.

+1 for The Curlew - probably Warlock's greatest work......

[Pohjolas Daughter]

+1 for The Curlew - probably Warlock's greatest work......

Thank you RS, I will certainly check it out. 

PD

[vandermolen]

"Serenade to music" was my introduction to RVW (EMI / Boult).
Hoping to find more "sweet harmony in immortal souls", I was slightly underwhelmed by the Tudor portraits. Benedicite however and Dives and Lazarus took me immediately into  higher spheres.
I found this lovely version of Benedicite on YT
https://youtu.be/b5st_NqgiW0

Yes, it is a fine version of that inspiriting score which I first discovered on this marvellous LP when I was at university: