What are you listening 2 now?

[Symphonic Addict]

A first listen to the Langgaard symphonies :

I can expect all sort of comments about this. 

[vandermolen]

I certainly agree. It's my favourite of the 6 cycles I have (10% of vandermolen's, I think ). It nudged Andrew Davis from 1st place.

Now, let me see

Boult x 2
Handley x 1
Davis x 1
Slatkin x1
Thomson x 1
Haitink x1
Hickox (unfinished) x1
Bakels/Daniel x1
Svetlanov x1

So, 10% is exactly right 

In my calculations I have not included duplicates of the same set - I have, for example, two copies of the Handley, Haitink and both Boult sets in different formats - but let's not go there.

[Papy Oli]

I can expect all sort of comments about this. 

it's... lively... 

[Brian]

In the last but one edition of the Vaughan Williams Society Journal producer Andrew Keener (who was at the desk for Handley, Slatkin, and Brabbins so far as well as several single RVW releases) says that he felt the Slatkin is a finer cycle than general opinion would say.....

Outside the UK Slatkin is seen as one of the very best cycles.

[Roasted Swan]

Now, let me see

Boult x 2
Handley x 1
Davis x 1
Slatkin x1
Thomson x 1
Haitink x1
Hickox (unfinished) x1
Bakels/Daniel x1
Svetlanov x1

So, 10% is exactly right 

In my calculations I have not included duplicates of the same set - I have, for example, two copies of the Handley, Haitink and both Boult sets in different formats - but let's not go there.

You've missed Previn! Surely you must have Previn?

Here's an alternative "non-cycle" cycle;

Sea Symphony - Slatkin/BBC SO (BBC Music Mag release)
London Symphony - Yates/RSNO (1920 revision)
Pastoral Symphony - Norrington/LPO (don't knock it till you try it!)
No.4 - Berglund/RPO
No.5 - Gibson/RPO
No.6 - Abravanal/Utah SO
No.7 - Leppard / Indianapolis SO
No.8 - Barbirolli / Halle
No.9 - Boult/LPO - doesn't really count as part of the Decca cycle as it was in stereo for Everest! (poor excuse I know)

[Papy Oli]

Something quieter to recover from Langgaard 

[Traverso]

CD11

[Traverso]

CD12

[André]

A gorgeous performance of the violin concerto. At the very end I thought the orchestra wasn't playing a real pianissimo, but the violin's high harmonics were still clearly heard. Late Romanticism at its most gorgeous.

The Concerto for violin, piano and 13 wind instruments is a more abstract work, being Berg's first full-fledged 12-tone composition. Nevertheless, it adheres to classical tenets like variation form (first movement), palindrome (adagio) and rondo (finale) and it partakes  of the same hyper romantic, greenhouse kind of sound world as the VC, the Lyric Suite or much of Wozzeck. Part of its abstractedness may stem from the use of strict mathematical relationships to shape the work, echoing the use of the palindromic structure in the middle movement. It may make it sound more 'organized', less free and lyrical than the VC.

[André]

You've missed Previn! Surely you must have Previn?

Here's an alternative "non-cycle" cycle;

Sea Symphony - Slatkin/BBC SO (BBC Music Mag release)
London Symphony - Yates/RSNO (1920 revision)
Pastoral Symphony - Norrington/LPO (don't knock it till you try it!)
No.4 - Berglund/RPO
No.5 - Gibson/RPO
No.6 - Abravanal/Utah SO
No.7 - Leppard / Indianapolis SO
No.8 - Barbirolli / Halle
No.9 - Boult/LPO - doesn't really count as part of the Decca cycle as it was in stereo for Everest! (poor excuse I know)

+1 for the Slatkin BBC version of the Sea Symphony. It is positively orgiastic.

[MusicTurner]

CD12

A wonderful box set indeed.

[MusicTurner]

Something quieter to recover from Langgaard 

A lovely disc, I listened to it just two days ago.

[vandermolen]

You've missed Previn! Surely you must have Previn?

Here's an alternative "non-cycle" cycle;

Sea Symphony - Slatkin/BBC SO (BBC Music Mag release)
London Symphony - Yates/RSNO (1920 revision)
Pastoral Symphony - Norrington/LPO (don't knock it till you try it!)
No.4 - Berglund/RPO
No.5 - Gibson/RPO
No.6 - Abravanal/Utah SO
No.7 - Leppard / Indianapolis SO
No.8 - Barbirolli / Halle
No.9 - Boult/LPO - doesn't really count as part of the Decca cycle as it was in stereo for Everest! (poor excuse I know)

Silly me! How could I forget Previn? Thanks for reminding me. I have the nice RCA box WITH a detailed booklet of notes and not the more recent version with no notes at all:

PS I like your alternative list RS and largely agree with your choices. I'm not a fan of Norrington but that is easily the best of his cycle and I felt that the Gibson was very underrated in No.5. Abravanel is IMO one of the very few to get No.6 right and be does not make the common mistake of rushing through the last movement. Doesn't the Leppard 'Antartica' quote large chunks of Captain Scott's diaries and not just the superscriptions provided by VW? Berglund's No.4 was once the top choice for the BBC's 'Building a Library' - I could have chosen his sibelian 6th Symphony as well - another rare success IMO. For No.9 I might well opt for Stokowski's Cala recording, which I find very moving. He and VW were at the RCM together in the early years of the last century. For No.4 I might opt for Mitropolous whose performance was a favourite of the composer's. For the 1920 version of No.2 I might well go for Eugene Goossens's Cincinnati SO recording.

[SimonNZ]

[Karl Henning]

Chas Rosen playing Liszt & Bartók

[Karl Henning]

I can expect all sort of comments about this. 

I need to revisit the cycle.

[JBS]

The First Symphony
Pretty much straight from mailbox to CD player.

This is a first listen to this symphony for me.

[André]

My first ever B9 on LP was the Mehta on Decca (London Records in North America). A couple of years later my next version was this one, Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony. Both conductors studied in Vienna under Hans Swarowsky in the mid fifties. There are of course differences aplenty between the two performances, but I'd ascribe most of them to the different musical cultures of the WP and the CSO. Beyond that it's quite obvious that both share common traits.

The emphasis on a strong bass line, a singing tone from the strings, a passionately lyrical approach to the gesangperiode of the first and third movements. To this Barenboim adds two ingredients of his own: unusually pointed pizzicati, particularly prominent in the scherzo, and unabashed portamento playing from the violin section. I hadn't listened to this performance in many years. It's not often cited as a top choice, but for me it's one of the most characterful and ardent versions on disc.

[Todd]

[Brian]

I saw the quintet live with Alessio Bax + the Eschers. Love the piece.