Vaughan Williams's Veranda

[Mirror Image]

Incidentally, John, you in particular will be pleased that I am at last about to listen to some of the Bryden Thomson symphonies set.

Yes, the Thomson set is very fine. My favorite of all the cycles. But, believe it or not, I'm warming up to Slatkin as I bought the newly remastered set. Sounds very nice! The Haitink, Handley, and Boult sets are also very fine. I haven't listened to the Naxos set (Daniel, Bakels) in quite some time. Boult I is a good set, but I prefer Boult II by a larger margin.

Anyway, carry on...

[Karl Henning]

Inspired by O Thou Transcendent, I now have very nearly all my RVW loaded onto my portable external hard drive . . . .

[Lethevich]

Fair disclosure: I pulled the trigger on this yesterday. Found it at an irresistable price.

:3 I know you'll find it valuable, even if you don't prefer the version overall - the recording job is very impressive, and the companion work very effective in context.

[Karl Henning]

That will be the first Butterworth I ever hear, certainly.

[vandermolen]

Aye, Jeffrey, I nearly mentioned that rather harsh remark, myself.  The implication that the unrelenting Fourth was such a tantrum, and that the radiance of the Fifth was the light which Ursula brought back into his life, was coldly unfair to Adeline, unfair to the composer, unfair to the delicacies of their situation.  A reaction to the frustrations of an irresolvable situation? In part, perhaps.  But simply rage at Adeline? Good heavens!

It was a credit to the film, though, that we were given a broader context, so that even just watching the film, that remark rang a queer note.

Totally agree with everything you say here Karl. Slatkin and Thomson are/were fine interpreters of Vaughan Williams - both sets are undervalued.

[TheGSMoeller]

Yes, the Thomson set is very fine. My favorite of all the cycles. But, believe it or not, I'm warming up to Slatkin as I bought the newly remastered set. Sounds very nice! The Haitink, Handley, and Boult sets are also very fine. I haven't listened to the Naxos set (Daniel, Bakels) in quite some time. Boult I is a good set, but I prefer Boult II by a larger margin.

Anyway, carry on...

Glad to hear, Slatkin is my go-to set.

[Mirror Image]

Glad to hear, Slatkin is my go-to set.

Well there's a lot of competition in these symphonies. I own every available cycle: Boult I, Boult II, Bakels/Daniel, Slatkin, Previn, Haitink, A. Davis, Thomson, and Handley. I also own Hickox's partial cycle which he performed Symphonies Nos. 1-6 & 8. Not to mention many single releases from various conductors.

[vandermolen]

Well there's a lot of competition in these symphonies. I own every available cycle: Boult I, Boult II, Bakels/Daniel, Slatkin, Previn, Haitink, A. Davis, Thomson, and Handley. I also own Hickox's partial cycle which he performed Symphonies Nos. 1-6 & 8. Not to mention many single releases from various conductors.

Yes me too (every set + numerous recordings of individual symphonies + the same recording in different manifestations  ) - welcome to the world of CD obsessional nutterdom 

[Mirror Image]

Yes me too (every set + numerous recordings of individual symphonies + the same recording in different manifestations  ) - welcome to the world of CD obsessional nutterdom 

I've had CDCDCD for many years prior to joining this forum. Doctors can't do anything for me. They've all said "It (the CDCDCD) is going to have to work itself out of the system." Yea..right, like that'll happen!

[eyeresist]

Fair disclosure: I pulled the trigger on this yesterday. Found it at an irresistable price.

So, from the Hillside to the Veranda.... It's a hard life for some, eh?

[Karl Henning]

When things get hairy, there's always The Shed to hang out in.

[Montpellier]

I've had CDCDCD for many years prior to joining this forum. Doctors can't do anything for me. They've all said "It (the CDCDCD) is going to have to work itself out of the system." Yea..right, like that'll happen!

A shame you don't live in the UK. You could have a stereoectomy on the National Health Service. 

[Mirror Image]

A shame you don't live in the UK. You could have a stereoectomy on the National Health Service. 

[Karl Henning]

At the time of watching O Thou Transcendent, the piece Toward the Unknown Region was but a name to me.

And now, this week, I've two performances of't.

[Mirror Image]

At the time of watching O Thou Transcendent, the piece Toward the Unknown Region was but a name to me.

And now, this week, I've two performances of't.

You never heard Toward the Unknown Region, Karl? Hmmm...surprising. It's not a really well-known work, but it's been recorded several times.

[Karl Henning]

. . . Not sure about Tallis/Unknown Region - must listen again.

Well . . . I've listened to Toward the Unknown Region twice now (which may be insufficient yet);  but I do not [yet?] find at all that the Tallis Fantasia alludes to it specifically.

I'm still using pencil here, to be sure . . . .

[Vesteralen]

I was scanning through some older posts for recommendations on Symphony 7.  Several posters gave their favorite versions, but I was wondering if anyone has actually compared a number of different performances and could pick the top two or three versions available at this time? At least some brief reasons why they are superior versions would also be welcome.  Thanks

[eyeresist]

I was scanning through some older posts for recommendations on Symphony 7.  Several posters gave their favorite versions, but I was wondering if anyone has actually compared a number of different performances and could pick the top two or three versions available at this time? At least some brief reasons why they are superior versions would also be welcome.  Thanks

Here's what I said elsewhere. YMMV and all that.

Symphony No. 7 "Sinfonia Antartica"

A fine work sadly lumbered with a silly title, a wind machine, and some illustrative quotations in the score which add little to the musical experience. Previn is slowest, grandest, scariest, but you'll need to program the spoken parts out of it. Bakels' "objectivity" works here – he is scary and heavy but swift. Between them, Previn and Bakels most successfully present this music independent of its filmscore origins, instead an evocation of the fragile human psyche dwarfed by a vast and dangerous universe.
Boult is very heroic and "stiff upper lip", which is a rather limited view on this work. Thomson is a bit generalised, has some uncomfortable phrasing in the first movement, and a terribly underwhelming organ in the "ice-fall" section. Haitink is well played and recorded but rather anonymous, with a fake-sounding wind machine. Handley falls flat, with no atmosphere or emotion, just a spectacle for orchestra (and the recording isn't spectacular enough to get away with that). Barbirolli's is good for a first performance, but now sounds like a recording of mere soundtrack music.

[Vesteralen]

Thanks.  Sorry I didn't see this post earlier.  Actually the Naxos disc is the one currently in my collection.  I used to have the Previn on LP and cassette tape (we're going way back).  I may still have the tape somewhere, but it's probably unplayable by this time.  I'll stick with Bakels, then.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks.  Sorry I didn't see this post earlier.  Actually the Naxos disc is the one currently in my collection.  I used to have the Previn on LP and cassette tape (we're going way back).  I may still have the tape somewhere, but it's probably unplayable by this time.  I'll stick with Bakels, then.

Handley and Thomson both have fine Sinfonia Antarctica performances. I would seek these out.