Vaughan Williams's Veranda

[Roasted Swan]

Last night I played for a choral society in Stratford upon Avon in Holy Trinity Church - where Shakespeare is buried right next to the River Avon.  Not just a pretty inspiring location but a really lovely programme too.  The solists were uniformly excellent but the baritone especially fine singing Finzi's "Let us Garlands bring".  The main works in the programme were RVW's "Serenade to Music" and his "Dona Nobis Pacem".  The latter often mentioned here and rightly considered one of his finest if not the finest choral work.  A great piece on any occasion but in the current climate the message of the work resonated with extraordinary power.  A genuine privilge to be part of the performance.  Actually its a really tricky piece to play on a single afternoon read through - RVW's harmonies and writing are not obvious or predictable so the actual performance was not nearly as polished as I'd have liked but sometimes the greater message is what's important.......

[Irons]

That does sound toothsome!

Being decidedly old school not into downloads and streaming but tempted especially after listening to  sound clips supplied by CRQ.

[vandermolen]

Had quite a surprise when I saw the front cover of the 'i' Newspaper this morning:

[Roasted Swan]

Had quite a surprise when I saw the front cover of the 'i' Newspaper this morning:

why sneer about ANY composer let alone RVW!?!?

[vandermolen]

why sneer about ANY composer let alone RVW!?!?

Good point RS. I managed to get the last copy in the village shop - an interesting article:

[foxandpeng]

why sneer about ANY composer let alone RVW!?!?

+1

[Mirror Image]

The John Bridcut BBC documentary titled The Passions of Vaughan Williams has been uploaded on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/v/XBbqKaV4sdQ

To those who haven't seen it, it's certainly worth your time. Much, much better, IMHO, than the Palmer documentary O, Thou Transcendent. I bought this documentary on DVD (along with the Britten, Delius and Elgar ones) and have enjoyed it. I could certainly watch it again, which I think I will tomorrow night.

[Mirror Image]

Had quite a surprise when I saw the front cover of the 'i' Newspaper this morning:

Nice, Jeffrey! Although I don't care for the "Don't sneer" blurb. The man was a brilliant composer. Why the hell would I sneer?!?!?

[vandermolen]

Nice, Jeffrey! Although I don't care for the "Don't sneer" blurb. The man was a brilliant composer. Why the hell would I sneer?!?!?

Yes, I agree - it was a foolish comment - maybe due to the populist nature of works like 'The Lark Ascending' I guess.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, I agree - it was a foolish comment - maybe due to the populist nature of works like 'The Lark Ascending' I guess.

Yes, that could be it. I guess it's the only work the "average Joe" would know. Kind of like Holst and The Planets, although there are plenty of serious classical listeners who don't know his oeuvre well at all.

[vandermolen]

Yes, that could be it. I guess it's the only work the "average Joe" would know. Kind of like Holst and The Planets, although there are plenty of serious classical listeners who don't know his oeuvre well at all.

Yes, that's quite true John.

[Spotted Horses]

Listened to Vaughan Williams' Job, a Masque for Dancing, in the recording by Adrian Boult and the London Symphony. This is the 1970 recording, although I also have the 1946 recording by Boult in the Vaughan Williams/Boult set from Warner/EMI.

Marvelous music, although if I didn't know I would never have thought this was a ballet. It seems to me like a series of tone pictures based on illustrations (the Robert Blake illustrations of Job) with some musical themes and motifs that link the piece together. Very fine performance under the direction of Boult, in pleasant analog sound.

I find it surprising that there haven't been more recordings of this music. I find I also have the Andrew Davis recording on Teldec, and there is also a Hickox recording, which is long out of print.

[foxandpeng]

Listened to Vaughan Williams' Job, a Masque for Dancing, in the recording by Adrian Boult and the London Symphony. This is the 1970 recording, although I also have the 1946 recording by Boult in the Vaughan Williams/Boult set from Warner/EMI.

Marvelous music, although if I didn't know I would never have thought this was a ballet. It seems to me like a series of tone pictures based on illustrations (the Robert Blake illustrations of Job) with some musical themes and motifs that link the piece together. Very fine performance under the direction of Boult, in pleasant analog sound.

I find it surprising that there haven't been more recordings of this music. I find I also have the Andrew Davis recording on Teldec, and there is also a Hickox recording, which is long out of print.

I've also liked the David Lloyd Jones version with the English Northern Philharmonia, on Naxos

[Roasted Swan]

Listened to Vaughan Williams' Job, a Masque for Dancing, in the recording by Adrian Boult and the London Symphony. This is the 1970 recording, although I also have the 1946 recording by Boult in the Vaughan Williams/Boult set from Warner/EMI.

Marvelous music, although if I didn't know I would never have thought this was a ballet. It seems to me like a series of tone pictures based on illustrations (the Robert Blake illustrations of Job) with some musical themes and motifs that link the piece together. Very fine performance under the direction of Boult, in pleasant analog sound.

I find it surprising that there haven't been more recordings of this music. I find I also have the Andrew Davis recording on Teldec, and there is also a Hickox recording, which is long out of print.

Old Bobby Blake was never quite as appreciated as his brother William - the same was true of Ronald (McDonald) Vaughan Williams

[Spotted Horses]

Old Bobby Blake was never quite as appreciated as his brother William - the same was true of Ronald (McDonald) Vaughan Williams

I'll have to look up this Ronald McDonald Vaughan Williams. Was he the one that invented the special sauce?

[Spotted Horses]

Having cracked open the Boult/RVW Box I decided to listen to a symphony. I picked No 8.

I see it as a dramatic departure for Vaughan Williams. I would say in each of the earlier symphonies Vaughan Williams "wears his heart on his sleeve," The 2nd is an affectionate portrait of London, the third a somber yet luminous tribute to the suffering of war, the forth and sixth agitated music, the fifth a spiritual meditation, the seventh a tribute to the heroism of the Scott expedition. In the eight it strikes me he is playing with sound, inventing themes, combining them, presenting them in different contexts, harmonies, orchestrations, etc. It is a wonderful pageant of music.

Boult is very fine. I had the EMI symphony cycle when it first came out on CD and eventually sold it because I was dissatisfied with the audio - it seemed too strident. The complete set indicates the symphonies have not been remastered, but I find the audio satisfactory now.  Perhaps a bit of an exaggerated mid-treble in the strings, but the winds sound very satisfying. I'm either getting older or wiser.

[vandermolen]

Last night I played for a choral society in Stratford upon Avon in Holy Trinity Church - where Shakespeare is buried right next to the River Avon.  Not just a pretty inspiring location but a really lovely programme too.  The solists were uniformly excellent but the baritone especially fine singing Finzi's "Let us Garlands bring".  The main works in the programme were RVW's "Serenade to Music" and his "Dona Nobis Pacem".  The latter often mentioned here and rightly considered one of his finest if not the finest choral work.  A great piece on any occasion but in the current climate the message of the work resonated with extraordinary power.  A genuine privilge to be part of the performance.  Actually its a really tricky piece to play on a single afternoon read through - RVW's harmonies and writing are not obvious or predictable so the actual performance was not nearly as polished as I'd have liked but sometimes the greater message is what's important.......

Just spotted this - what a great experience.

[vandermolen]

Having cracked open the Boult/RVW Box I decided to listen to a symphony. I picked No 8.

I see it as a dramatic departure for Vaughan Williams. I would say in each of the earlier symphonies Vaughan Williams "wears his heart on his sleeve," The 2nd is an affectionate portrait of London, the third a somber yet luminous tribute to the suffering of war, the forth and sixth agitated music, the fifth a spiritual meditation, the seventh a tribute to the heroism of the Scott expedition. In the eight it strikes me he is playing with sound, inventing themes, combining them, presenting them in different contexts, harmonies, orchestrations, etc. It is a wonderful pageant of music.

Boult is very fine. I had the EMI symphony cycle when it first came out on CD and eventually sold it because I was dissatisfied with the audio - it seemed too strident. The complete set indicates the symphonies have not been remastered, but I find the audio satisfactory now.  Perhaps a bit of an exaggerated mid-treble in the strings, but the winds sound very satisfying. I'm either getting older or wiser.

I think that it's a fine set which gives me a lot of pleasure.

[Biffo]

I think that it's a fine set which gives me a lot of pleasure.

Has this set been remastered? I collected the symphonies individually (more or less) over the years and I don't think the sound quality is always ideal.

[Spotted Horses]

Has this set been remastered? I collected the symphonies individually (more or less) over the years and I don't think the sound quality is always ideal.

In the booklet a copyright of 1986 or 1987 is given for the remastering of the symphonies. That sounds like the date of the first CD release. I think the remastering is not as good as it could be, but the basic quality of the original analog recordings still manifests itself. It really is a shame that they have not remastered these very significant recordings after almost 40 years. Maybe the tapes are lost or have deteriorated.