Top 5 Vaughan Williams works.

[SymphonicAddict]

What strikes me, is that so many different works are mentioned: apparently RVW is a composer of more than the Tallis Fantasia. 

Of course, His oeuvre is vast, including practically all forms. There is plenty to choose from. I like the Tallis Fantasia a lot, but I didn't include it in my list. BTW, Sancta Civitas may be in another new list. This guy was very talented, I'm more and more amazed. There is none composition I don't like.

[Mirror Image]

Time to change up my list a bit:

Symphony No. 6
Flos Campi
Dona nobis pacem
5 Mystical Songs
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

I'm still quite happy with this list of mine overall, but I'd probably substitute Symphony No. 6 with Symphony No. 5.

[vandermolen]

Here is my 'alternative' top VW five list.

Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune - I've always loved craggy work for piano, choir and orchestra.
Pilgrim's Progress - possibly his masterpiece - I've been very lucky to see it live twice
String Quartet No.2 'For Jean on Her Birthday' - occupies the same sound world as Symphony 6
Scott of the Antarctic Film Music - just released in its entirety on Dutton for the first time - very atmospheric and I'm fascinated by Captain Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole.
Epithalamion - a late neglected oratorio. I even had a nice exchange by letter with Ursula Vaughan Williams about it (she wrote the libretto). It's a really lovely, gentle work. Do listen to it if you like VW's music - I often play it.
If I exclude the Scott music I'd included 'An Oxford Elegy' for narrator and orchestra which I like very much. I've noticed that all the works I've chosen are comparatively late VW compositions.

Another great, lesser known, work is the short bleak but moving one act Opera 'Riders to the Sea'.

[Christo]

Here is my 'alternative' top VW five list.

Another five 'great, but lesser-known':

Three Portraits from The England of Elizabeth (1955) - orchestra
The Bridal Day, a Masque (1938) - even finer in this original version IMO than the cantata Epithalamion that RVW made of it
Variations for Brass Band (1957)
Suite for Pipes (1939) - recorder quartet
Four Hymns for Tenor and Strings (1912)

[Autumn Leaves]

No order:

The Lark Ascending
Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis
Symphony #8
Symphony #3, "A Pastoral Symphony"
Toward The Unknown Region

[Karl Henning]

No order:

The Lark Ascending
Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis
Symphony #8
Symphony #3, "A Pastoral Symphony"
Toward The Unknown Region

A strong list!

[Karl Henning]

Epithalamion - a late neglected oratorio. I even had a nice exchange by letter with Ursula Vaughan Williams about it (she wrote the libretto). It's a really lovely, gentle work. Do listen to it if you like VW's music - I often play it.

I do need to revisit this.

[vandermolen]

I do need to revisit this.

Lovely gentle late night music Karl.

[vandermolen]

Another five 'great, but lesser-known':

Three Portraits from The England of Elizabeth (1955) - orchestra
The Bridal Day, a Masque (1938) - even finer in this original version IMO than the cantata Epithalamion that RVW made of it
Variations for Brass Band (1957)
Suite for Pipes (1939) - recorder quartet
Four Hymns for Tenor and Strings (1912)

Great list. Must look out for 'The Bridal Day'. The Brass Band Variations is featured on the forthcoming CD of A London Symphony (1920 Version) on Hyperion. Another lesser-known work that I really like is the Concerto for Two Pianos.

[Karl Henning]

Lovely gentle late night music Karl.

I loaded all the RVW which I had converted to "soft copy" onto my phone, but I must not yet have converted this CD, Jeffrey!  Must remedy that this weekend!

[Christo]

Must look out for 'The Bridal Day'.

It is the 'missing link' (1938) between the 'oriëntal not-so-subdued erotic mysticism' (my words for lack of a better characterization) of Flos Campi (1925) and the intensely nostalgic but again also mystic lyricism of An Oxford Elegy (1949). I always thought that Flos Campi stands alone in his output, until I heard The Bridal Day - and saw this unexpected chain of compositions, starting perhaps with the Four Hymns for tenor, viola and strings (1914) and also Merciless Beauty for tenor, two violins and cello (1921).

The Brass Band Variations is featured on the forthcoming CD of A London Symphony (1920 Version) on Hyperion.

It's very welcome, as there is hardly any really good version available until now. The re-orchestration for Winds is less convincing, nor is Gordon Jacob's orchestral version. Virtuoso brass, nothing else will do. 

Another lesser-known work that I really like is the Concerto for Two Pianos.

More so than the original version? I love that one too, especially when played so well as by Thomson and Shelley:

[Karl Henning]

It's very welcome, as there is hardly any really good version available until now. The re-orchestration for Winds is less convincing, nor is Gordon Jacob's orchestral version. Virtuoso brass, nothing else will do. 

Damn. The Veranda remains a dangerous place.

[vandermolen]

It is the 'missing link' (1938) between the 'oriëntal not-so-subdued erotic mysticism' (my words for lack of a better characterization) of Flos Campi (1925) and the intensely nostalgic but again also mystic lyricism of An Oxford Elegy (1949). I always thought that Flos Campi stands alone in his output, until I heard The Bridal Day - and saw this unexpected chain of compositions, starting perhaps with the Four Hymns for tenor, viola and strings (1914) and also Merciless Beauty for tenor, two violins and cello (1921).
It's very welcome, as there is hardly any really good version available until now. The re-orchestration for Winds is less convincing, nor is Gordon Jacob's orchestral version. Virtuoso brass, nothing else will do. 
More so than the original version? I love that one too, especially when played so well as by Thomson and Shelley:

Yes, I prefer the two piano version - probably because I came to know the work through the Vronsky/Babin/Boult LP coupled with Symphony 8 and featuring that wonderful late painting of VW by Sir Gerald Kelly (not completed until after the composer's death - in 1961). The painting is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London although not on display. 
I think that version more significantly emphasises the percussive qualities of the piano which are a characteristic feature of the work.
That Chandos CD is excellent in all respects as I love both works and it features a lesser-known photo of the composer in old age.

[Mirror Image]

Today's list (and keeping with the one symphony per list rule) in no particular order -

Symphony No. 4
Flos campi
Sancta Civitas
Romance for viola & piano
On Wenlock Edge

[vandermolen]

Today's list (and keeping with the one symphony per list rule) in no particular order -

Symphony No. 4
Flos campi
Sancta Civitas
Romance for viola & piano
On Wenlock Edge

Ok here goes  :
Symphony 8 (I like this more and more)
Sancta Civitas
Epithalamion
Three Portraits from the England of Elizabeth
Job

[Christo]

Symphony 8 (I like this more and more)

Played it again yesterday and decided, once again, that I really cannot choose between symphonies Nos. 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 - all staunch favourites as soon as I hear them. 

[Roasted Swan]

It is the 'missing link' (1938) between the 'oriëntal not-so-subdued erotic mysticism' (my words for lack of a better characterization) of Flos Campi (1925) and the intensely nostalgic but again also mystic lyricism of An Oxford Elegy (1949). I always thought that Flos Campi stands alone in his output, until I heard The Bridal Day - and saw this unexpected chain of compositions, starting perhaps with the Four Hymns for tenor, viola and strings (1914) and also Merciless Beauty for tenor, two violins and cello (1921).
It's very welcome, as there is hardly any really good version available until now. The re-orchestration for Winds is less convincing, nor is Gordon Jacob's orchestral version. Virtuoso brass, nothing else will do. 
More so than the original version? I love that one too, especially when played so well as by Thomson and Shelley:

I agree that the original Brass Band version of the Variations is the one to go for HOWEVER the recent Brabbins/Royal College of Music "Brass Band" in no way sounds like a proper brass band - very well played though it is.  It sounds like orchestral players "playing" at brass band.  For the authentic sound allied to supreme virtuosity in this work look no further than Black Dyke here.....


[asin]B000000A71[/asin]

available for pence 2nd hand and the whole programme is excellent not just the RVW.  It really is a completely different league.........

EDIT:  Something about this ensemble didn't sound right to me - when did a Conservatoire provide 'specialist' training for brass band?.... never when I was at one for sure!

So I checked out the RCM website and indeed they offer a plethora of ensembles and orchestras for their students to participate in..... but no brass band is listed - www.rcm.ac.uk/life/preparingforprofession/ensembles/ .  So, as I thought, this is an ensemble of (very good) brass players from the College but in no way is it a brass band.  You only need to listen to a minute of this performance to know that but it irks me a little that Hyperion have 'faked' a name.  I guess it made for a cheap filler - I doubt they paid MU rates for that recording.......

[Biffo]

For the moment -

A London Symphony (Final version)
Dona nobis pacem
Tallis Fantasia
The Pilgrim's Progress
Serenade to Music

Edit: Possibly replace the Serenade with Job; five is not enough

[Mirror Image]

Ok here goes  :
Symphony 8 (I like this more and more)
Sancta Civitas
Epithalamion
Three Portraits from the England of Elizabeth
Job

Symphony No. 8 is an astonishing piece, Jeffrey. I remember reading that when RVW played it back for some friends on piano that one of them wondered if it would have been better suited to call the work a sinfonietta instead of a symphony to which RVW replied, and I'm paraphrasing, "I don't care what you say! This is a symphony!" It's an unusual work in the RVW canon and I wonder if people who don't like it, which I can't imagine many fans of his music disliking it, whether they've given the work the proper amount of time to sink in? It took me a bit of time to understand Flos campi even though I was enchanted from start to finish.

[Roasted Swan]

Symphony No. 8 is an astonishing piece, Jeffrey. I remember reading that when RVW played it back for some friends on piano that one of them wondered if it would have been better suited to call the work a sinfonietta instead of a symphony to which RVW replied, and I'm paraphrasing, "I don't care what you say! This is a symphony!" It's an unusual work in the RVW canon and I wonder if people who don't like it, which I can't imagine many fans of his music disliking it, whether they've given the work the proper amount of time to sink in? It took me a bit of time to understand Flos campi even though I was enchanted from start to finish.

The Symphony I listen to least often and with least pleasure in the RVW canon.  Too much "trying things out" - I'm not convinced by the wind-only/strings only movements.  I still quite like it - but I find it the least impressive of an impressive cycle......  the work that engages RVW's head more than his heart.......