Vaughan Williams's Veranda

[Sergeant Rock]

For No.4 I'd say Berglund...

A terrific performance certainly, and meets relm1's criterion ("fire in droves") but I personally prefer a slower, more galumphing pace in the beginning of the Finale (love Rozhdestvensky here, and Boult).

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

I should really get that Rozhdestvensky cycle of RVW! I keep forgetting it. Russian forces performing Vaughan Williams just seems odd to me, but I heard good things about it.

[Sergeant Rock]

I have never warmed up to Haitink, Handley, Slatkin, Bakels/Daniel, or Davis as far as the complete cycles go. Thomson's cycle has fallen a bit out of favor with me, although his performances are very good (some performances more so than others).

Haitink and the two Boult cycles are my favorites but the other cycles you mention have some great performances too (imo):

Handley 3 8
Slatkin 1 4
Bakels 9
Davis 6
Thomson 2 8 9

Since getting the remastered Previn box, my admiration for his cycle has increased. Love especially 2, 3, 5 and 7.

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

Haitink and the two Boult cycles are my favorites but the other cycles you mention have some great performances too (imo):

Handley 3 8
Slatkin 1 4
Bakels 9
Davis 6
Thomson 2 8 9

Since getting the remastered Previn box, my admiration for his cycle has increased. Love especially 2, 3, 5 and 7.

Sarge

Interesting, Sarge. How would you rate Slatkin's cycle in general? I bought the remastered budget set last night (in a post I deleted for some reason ). I know you and I battled back and forth on the audio quality of this set before, but I do believe the remastered set sounds better (or at least judging from the 15-minute audio sample of the 5th I heard on Naxos Music Library I heard last night).

Also, I rate Thomson's 8th very highly as does Jeffrey (Vandermolen). There's another performance of the 8th that I was impressed by fairly recently and it came from a Russian:

[vandermolen]

Handley's performances are solid but none of them would be a first choice. His harps at the end of No.9 are impressive. I prefer his earlier LPO recording of A London Symphony to the Liverpool version. Slatkin's set has its strengths - No.9 in particular but nos 5 and 6 are disappointing.

[Sergeant Rock]

Interesting, Sarge. How would you rate Slatkin's cycle in general?

I'm not sure I can answer that. I suppose he belongs in the middle of my rankings of the nine cycles I own, with the Boults and Haitink at the top, Davis at the bottom, and Rozh occupying his own space in the ratings game. I would probably rate Slatkin with Handley and Thomson but below Previn. But those four keep shifting as I listen to them. I do hope your new Slatkin buy meets your sonic expectations. There really are some fine performances.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Handley's performances are solid but none of them would be a first choice.

I agree with that but he is picking up steam in my estimation. In other words. I can appreciate him more today than before. A recent listen to his 8 quite impressed me.

Sarge

[vandermolen]

I agree with that but he is picking up steam in my estimation. In other words. I can appreciate him more today than before. A recent listen to his 8 quite impressed me.

Sarge

I don't think that anyone who invested in Handley's boxed set of the VW symphonies should be disappointed - they are all good performances and more consistently so than some other cycles (Slatkin and Davis for example). Many rate his No.5 as best of all and 6 and 9 are a great disc together. A Sea Symphony is very strong as well but I prefer his earlier LPO version of A London Symphony (1936) - the RLPO No.6 though is far superior to the old boxed-in LPO version although I like the 'Prelude and Fugue' fill-up better than the more recent versions.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

In my view there are very few entirely successful performances of Symphony 6 on CD. considering.

. The 6th is a difficult work to find a good performance of that does it justice.

It's a hard symphony to get right. Recordings tend to fail because of 3 reasons:

1) not enough power and fury in the 1st mvt.
2) inability to achieve the right mixture of spooky post-apocalyptic mood and symphonic forward motion for the finale to work
3) inadequate sonics

I think both Handley and Boult do well on these factors, overall. I may try to pick up Abravanel and Berglund at some point.

[vandermolen]

It's a hard symphony to get right. Recordings tend to fail because of 3 reasons:

1) not enough power and fury in the 1st mvt.
2) inability to achieve the right mixture of spooky post-apocalyptic mood and symphonic forward motion for the finale to work
3) inadequate sonics

I think both Handley and Boult do well on these factors, overall. I may try to pick up Abravanel and Berglund at some point.

Also, the 'big tune' at the end of the first movement if often played too emotionally in my view. Boult's objective approach works brilliantly here. The finale is often too loud or too fast (Boult, LPO and Abravanel are exceptions). Boult's LPO recording has the added bonus of the composer's appreciative speech.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The finale is often too loud or too fast (Boult, LPO and Abravanel are exceptions).

The finale presents an interesting problem of interpretation. There are other symphonies that end soft & slow (Tchai 5, Mahler 9). But in those cases there is a lot of raw emotion and obvious drama, which balances the rest of the symphony. The moonscape VW composed is completely different in nature, unsettling precisely because of its lack of raw emotion. How can this movement be an effective balance to the other movements without sounding like a drawn-out afterthought?

[Mirror Image]

I'm not sure I can answer that. I suppose he belongs in the middle of my rankings of the nine cycles I own, with the Boults and Haitink at the top, Davis at the bottom, and Rozh occupying his own space in the ratings game. I would probably rate Slatkin with Handley and Thomson but below Previn. But those four keep shifting as I listen to them. I do hope your new Slatkin buy meets your sonic expectations. There really are some fine performances.

Sarge

Thanks, Sarge. Looking forward to hearing the updated sonics of the Slatkin. A word on the Slatkin, I revisited his Five Variants on 'Dives and Lazarus' and found it to be not my cup of tea. He rushes through the work like Bernstein driving a Mahler scherzo. A beautiful work that IMHO needs to be ravishing and performed at slower tempo. I hope his tempi are more lax when they need to be in the symphonies!

[Mirror Image]

It's a hard symphony to get right. Recordings tend to fail because of 3 reasons:

1) not enough power and fury in the 1st mvt.
2) inability to achieve the right mixture of spooky post-apocalyptic mood and symphonic forward motion for the finale to work
3) inadequate sonics

I think both Handley and Boult do well on these factors, overall. I may try to pick up Abravanel and Berglund at some point.

I agree with those fine points you made here about the 6th. Abravanel is awesome in this symphony! There's also a great performance of Dona nobis pacem on that recording. I'm sure it can had for a good price in the used market.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Slatkin 1 4

I just listened to Slatkin's 3/4 disc (the only one from his cycle I have) and was impressed with both performances. Certainly the 4th is very tightly wound and "in-yer-face" as this piece should be, with great orchestral playing and very present, natural sound.

[Mirror Image]

I just listened to Slatkin's 3/4 disc (the only one from his cycle I have) and was impressed with both performances. Certainly the 4th is very tightly wound and "in-yer-face" as this piece should be, with great orchestral playing and very present, natural sound.

How was A Pastoral Symphony?

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

How was A Pastoral Symphony?

I liked it too. But I've only heard a couple of other performances, so it's hard to compare.

[Mirror Image]

I liked it too. But I've only heard a couple of other performances, so it's hard to compare.

Ah okay.

[relm1]

It is interesting to me that reading this whole thread, my initial opinion still holds strong...that the best complete cycles of RVW symphonies in terms of performance, interpretation, and sonics are Andre Previn/LSO and Sir Adrian Boult/LPO/NPO.  On a symphony by symphony basis these might be eclipsed (my favorite No. 1 is Haitink/LPO/EMI) but the rest of Haitink's cycle is hit or miss for example.

[Christo]

It is interesting to me that reading this whole thread, my initial opinion still holds strong...that the best complete cycles of RVW symphonies in terms of performance, interpretation, and sonics are Andre Previn/LSO and Sir Adrian Boult/LPO/NPO.  On a symphony by symphony basis these might be eclipsed (my favorite No. 1 is Haitink/LPO/EMI) but the rest of Haitink's cycle is hit or miss for example.

Agreed, with the addition that for me Bryden Thomson, responsible for a number of first choices (e.g. in 6, 8, 9), completes the trinity.

[Mirror Image]

Coming in January:



https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010969