Vaughan Williams's Veranda

[André]

+ 1 for the Slatkin set. A wonderful Sea Symphony starts the cycle in grand fashion. I'm probably alone in preferring the 1st over the others, much as I love them all  .

[Karl Henning]

You may be alone in that, but it is nothing crazy  0:)

[André]

I always fall for a piece of music set to words by Walt Whitman.

[vandermolen]

+ 1 for the Slatkin set. A wonderful Sea Symphony starts the cycle in grand fashion. I'm probably alone in preferring the 1st over the others, much as I love them all  .

I've increasingly come to appreciate A Sea Symphony, especially after hearing the Haitink version. The best music is in the finale I think.

[Sergeant Rock]

+ 1 for the Slatkin set. A wonderful Sea Symphony starts the cycle in grand fashion.

I concur...and the recording has tremendous organ presence. Spectacular sound. My other favorite of Slatkin's set is his Fourth.

Sarge

[relm1]

I've increasingly come to appreciate A Sea Symphony, especially after hearing the Haitink version. The best music is in the finale I think.

Haitink's Sea Symphony is the best of his RVW symphonies in my opinion.  It is the best version of that work I have heard.  The stars were aligned on that one in a way they haven't been since.

[Biffo]

Haitink did a fine cycle (plus the assorted fill-ups) but I don't remember the Sea Symphony being anything special. Nos 7, 8 and 9 were excellent with No 7 possibly the pick of the whole cycle. My current favourites for the Sea Symphony are Elder and Spano, difficult to choose between them.

For no particular reason I haven't heard any of Slatkin's cycle - sounds like I may have to give the Sea Symphony a try. Also, I haven't heard any of Bryden Thomson's cycle though many seem to like it. I am about to rectify that as I bought No 4 in the Chandos sale last week. So far I have only listened to the coupling, the Concerto accademico - not as good as Buswell/Previn but still a fine performance.

[relm1]

Haitink did a fine cycle (plus the assorted fill-ups) but I don't remember the Sea Symphony being anything special. Nos 7, 8 and 9 were excellent with No 7 possibly the pick of the whole cycle. My current favourites for the Sea Symphony are Elder and Spano, difficult to choose between them.

For no particular reason I haven't heard any of Slatkin's cycle - sounds like I may have to give the Sea Symphony a try. Also, I haven't heard any of Bryden Thomson's cycle though many seem to like it. I am about to rectify that as I bought No 4 in the Chandos sale last week. So far I have only listened to the coupling, the Concerto accademico - not as good as Buswell/Previn but still a fine performance.

Haitink's No. 9 is weak.  Very poorly balanced and not following the dynamics of the score.  It's my least favorite of his series. 

[Karl Henning]

I spent my drive to Alewife listening to the first movement of A London Symphony from the Handley set, just to confirm for myself that when Hurwitz dismisses Handley, he's talking out of his hat.

[Biffo]

Haitink's No. 9 is weak.  Very poorly balanced and not following the dynamics of the score.  It's my least favorite of his series.

Haitink's No 9 didn't strike me as weak when I first heard it but the 9th is the symphony I have probably listened to least.

Meanwhile, just finished listening to Bryden Thomson's excellent recording of No 4.

Leonard Slatkin's whole cycle is available so cheaply that I have ordered it rather than just the Sea Symphony.

[Karl Henning]

Aye, I simply sprang for the Slatkin box, figured it was the right risk:reward profile  0:)

[Sergeant Rock]

Haitink's No. 9 is weak.  Very poorly balanced and not following the dynamics of the score.  It's my least favorite of his series.

Haitink's No 9 didn't strike me as weak

Doesn't strike me as weak either. In fact, it's one of my favorite versions. When Gramophone reviewed it, their reviewer (Andrew Achenbach) thought it the best he'd ever heard:

I'm inclined to rate Haitink's resplendent new version as the finest yet, a thrillingly convinced and convincing demonstration of the timeless universality of VW's masterpiece. I love the clear-sighted dedication and stoic grandeur of the opening Moderato maestoso. Not only is Haitink meticulously faithful to both the letter and spirit of the score, VW's argument evolves with a nobility and wholeness that grip from first measure to last. Those tenuto strings at Fig 2 (1'02") in the second movement have just the right 'mud on boots' feel to them and, like Handley before him, Haitink doesn't overplay his hand in the central lyrical episode (its chaste beauty all the more affecting as a consequence). The hobgoblins of the Scherzo cackle with plenty of malevolent glee, yet Haitink proves just as tenderly responsive to the strings' ravishing cantabile c sostenuto dialogue between Figs 30 and 34 (from 4'06" to 4'42").

It's in the awesome final movement, though, where Haitink really surpasses himself: VW's monolithic vision is surveyed with an original power and cumulative impact that left this listener, at any rate, dumb struck with admiration and gratitude.

Throughout, the LPO play marvellously for their former chief, and EMI's Abbey Road sound is excellent, truthful in timbre and expertly balanced

[André]

I spent my drive to Alewife listening to the first movement of A London Symphony from the Handley set, just to confirm for myself that when Hurwitz dismisses Handley, he's talking out of his hat.

Hurwitz has a big collection of hats  .

[André]

Aye, I simply sprang for the Slatkin box, figured it was the right risk:reward profile  0:)

True. Some bargains are too good to resist, and sometimes prove to be worth their weight in gold (or almost).

[Baron Scarpia]

Doesn't strike me as weak either. In fact, it's one of my favorite versions. When Gramophone reviewed it, their reviewer (Andrew Achenbach) thought it the best he'd ever heard:

I also liked it, but it was the first recording of the piece I had listened to.

[calyptorhynchus]

Here's something interesting. I was listening to The Poisoned Kiss yesterday, (probably the last big VW work I hadn't heard), and in the love duet before the finale of Act 2 the music is very reminiscent of the slow movement of the Fifth.
I know that that movement is also indebted to the Pilgrim's Progress (written during the 1930s).
So it seems that the inspiration for the slow movement of the fifth is amorous as well as spiritual.

[vandermolen]

I hardly know The Poisoned Kiss at all - or ''Sir John in Love' for that matter; isn't The Poisoned Kiss supposed to have a terrible libretto?

Crossed over from the Listening thread I've just listened to Previn's 'A Sea Symphony' mainly because I couldn't find my copy of the Slatkin which has been praised here. I enjoyed the Previn but agree with the 'Third Ear Guide' that the soloists are a bit too 'operatic'.
[asin]B00011MK74[/asin]
The Penguin CD Guide says that Slatkin is best in the first and last VW symphonies and that his cycle reveals the final three symphonies as up to the standard of the earlier ones.

[relm1]

Doesn't strike me as weak either. In fact, it's one of my favorite versions. When Gramophone reviewed it, their reviewer (Andrew Achenbach) thought it the best he'd ever heard:

I'm inclined to rate Haitink's resplendent new version as the finest yet, a thrillingly convinced and convincing demonstration of the timeless universality of VW's masterpiece. I love the clear-sighted dedication and stoic grandeur of the opening Moderato maestoso. Not only is Haitink meticulously faithful to both the letter and spirit of the score, VW's argument evolves with a nobility and wholeness that grip from first measure to last. Those tenuto strings at Fig 2 (1'02") in the second movement have just the right 'mud on boots' feel to them and, like Handley before him, Haitink doesn't overplay his hand in the central lyrical episode (its chaste beauty all the more affecting as a consequence). The hobgoblins of the Scherzo cackle with plenty of malevolent glee, yet Haitink proves just as tenderly responsive to the strings' ravishing cantabile c sostenuto dialogue between Figs 30 and 34 (from 4'06" to 4'42").

It's in the awesome final movement, though, where Haitink really surpasses himself: VW's monolithic vision is surveyed with an original power and cumulative impact that left this listener, at any rate, dumb struck with admiration and gratitude.

Throughout, the LPO play marvellously for their former chief, and EMI's Abbey Road sound is excellent, truthful in timbre and expertly balanced

Hmm, maybe I should relisten to it.  What I recall is the complete opposite of what Andrew Achenbach said.  The percussion is practically inaudible when marked at forte in the score.  No bass drum presence at all and there are many hits in the last movement.  Timpani is timid but marked marcato and fortissimo.  Not a recording that is faithful to the score or serves the music well so the final impression was a very timid, restrained, uninspired performance of a mighty cosmic work.  But maybe I should revisit it.

[Sergeant Rock]

Hmm, maybe I should relisten to it.  What I recall is the complete opposite of what Andrew Achenbach said.  The percussion is practically inaudible when marked at forte in the score.  No bass drum presence at all and there are many hits in the last movement.  Timpani is timid but marked marcato and fortissimo.  Not a recording that is faithful to the score or serves the music well so the final impression was a very timid, restrained, uninspired performance of a mighty cosmic work.  But maybe I should revisit it.

AA doesn't mention the percussion. You could be right. I'll have to revisit too.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

. . . so the final impression was a very timid, restrained, uninspired performance [....]

One man's floor is another man's ceiling, and all that . . . but I listened again this morning, and those are not three descriptors I should ever apply to this performance.