Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
Isobel Baillie, soprano (A Sea Symphony)
John Cameron, baritone (A Sea Symphony)
Margaret Ritchie, soprano (Pastoral Symphony and Sinfonia Antartica)
John Gielgud, speaker (Sinfonia Antartica)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Choir
Symphonies 1-7 were recorded in MONO
Symphonies 8 & 9 were recorded in STEREO
All were recorded for DECCA between 1952 and 1958 except for Symphony No. 9, which was recorded for EVEREST.
The historical importance of this set is difficult to exaggerate. Some critics dislike that most of the symphonies here are recorded in mono, some suggest the proficiency of the London Philharmonic was, at the time, weaker than later. I guess if you're looking for a single Vaughan Williams cycle to purchase, those considerations might factor into the decision. But I've told people in search of "one great Vaughan Williams cycle" that I think they really need two: This one, and any of the others you happen to like most. Let's be honest - there are so many great Vaughan Williams cycles out there, and really none of them are bad. You can't go wrong with almost anything you choose.
There are three inescapable reasons for having this set, though: First, the composer himself was present for the recording of symphonies 1-8. Second, it was the first complete cycle ever made. Third, it was recorded by Sir Adrian Boult, who knew Vaughan Williams's music as well as any musician ever has. I began collecting them on LP in the 1990s - fortunately this finely transferred digital set was made available in 2002. I'm pretty sure I bought one of the first copies sold.
A word about MONO and sound quality in general. I don't see myself as an audiophile. I appreciate great sound, and would prefer it, of course, but what interests me the most are the musicians themselves: their interpretation and execution of the piece. So I can be pretty forgiving about recordings. Beyond that, I prize diversity of style - not only among the performers, but the recording engineers. As I mentioned in my review of Gennady Rozhdestvensky's cycle with the USSR Ministry of Culture, I enjoy the bold, crisp, aggressive Melodiya style as much or more than the warm, softer Deutsche Grammophon approach. It allows me to hear different things - and therefore approach the pieces differently. The same holds true for me listening in mono. All things being equal, I'll usually choose stereo, but listening in mono forces me to focus on certain things I ordinarily might not - and that can be a very good thing.
All of this pertains to the challenging lead off of this set: A Sea Symphony (No.1). Don't be frighted off simply because it's in mono - this recording is interpreted and performed extremely well. The voices are way to the front of the mix - more so than in any stereo recording I've heard, so already we have a unique perspective.
From the outset, with the brass fanfare opening, we can hear Boult's presence. He's a conductor whose sound is immediately distinct. One of Boult's great contributions is the attention he gives to inner voices, filling everything out with richness and tension. Like Sviatoslav Richter's piano approach, the effect is to reveal the inner working of the music in a different way - and in Boult's case, he was the first interpreter of many of these pieces. Considering the composer himself was present, I would love to know how much of the interpretation was Boult's initiative and how much of it RVW's - the important thing, I guess, is that this recording represents what they both wanted.
John Cameron and Isobel Baillie are great soloists. Perhaps because of the mono sound, and the placement of them and the Choir, the articulation of Whitman's text is crisper than in many other versions. The 96kHz remastering assures that we'll hear all of the details possible. All of this makes for great listening.
One of the most disappointing recordings of the set, in terms of the sound, is A London Symphony (No 2). I don't know why this one ended up so steely, and lacking the depth and color of several others in the set. Not all of that can be blamed on mono sound - there was a beautiful recording of London made by Sir Henry Wood in the 1930s, showing what could be accomplished with that technology. This one is unfortunately not so vibrant and warm. It is still valuable for all conductors and performers of the piece for the interpretation. Boult's pacing and phrasing here is, in some ways, a template for the many other recordings made since, and are worthy of study. The almost extremely broad interpretation of the second movement by Previn with the RPO in the 1980s, for instance, finds an antecedent and historical justification in Boult's opening to the same Lento movement here. What matters, of course, is whether the performance is ultimately successful on its own terms, but to have this sort of historical document is almost unique (Shostakovich's cycle with Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic being another, similar gift).
As far as I'm concerned the Pastoral Symphony (No 3) was Boult's wheelhouse. For my money, no one ever did better than him in tempi, texture, or the "swing" of the music, which seems like it's being created from the air around you as you listen, rather than even being read. Choosing between this version and his later stereo recording, I might opt for the stereo, but this has some unique features. Vaughan Williams wrote for both natural trumpet and horn in the second movement - giving them solos which are supposed to be deliberately out of tune. The natural trumpet player actually plays flat here, as does the French Horn - but probably because the composer was in the house and demanded it. Almost every other recording I've heard, while the soloists might try to give a nod to the basic idea, maintain pretty conventional intonation. It might be a controversial take, but I don't really think the natural pitch adds to the piece. Generations of recordings made where the soloists play with tempered pitch have shown that to be as effective or more musically, at least for me. But let's face it - the composer himself wanted something else, and in this recordings we hear what he wanted. The brass climax of the third movement has that real Boult "crunch" sound that no one else gets, and I find addictive. It's a remarkable recording.
Oddly, I find it important to remind folks that the F minor Symphony (No 4) isn't just about dissonance and violence. To hear some commentators, you'd think this was all about the rise of fascism in Europe - that it was newsreel music. Despite protestations of the composer and his widow (who called it more of a self portrait than a discussion of current events) the narrative persists, almost a hundred years later. For what it's worth, I think that matters - that this music so impressed the public and continues to as a document of its era is impressive and meaningful (music is a communal event, after all). But I think it can obscure full appreciation of the work to view it this way.
Sometimes it helps to listen to the music as though for the first time - and what strikes me now, especially in the first movement, is the abundance of beautiful melody. After a century of dissonance, RVW 4 really isn't shocking - except in its beauty despite the dissonance. Vaughan Williams himself thought it beautiful. In a letter to a friend (quoted by Michael Kennedy in the Eulenburg edition of the score) he wrote "When you say you do not think my F mi. Symph. beautiful my answer must be that I do think it beautiful..."
No one takes the melodic, flowing content of this symphony more seriously than Sir Adrian Boult. Listen to the flowing melodies that are throughout - focus on them awhile more than the dissonance - it will repay your efforts!
This recording in this set is remarkable for being mono - so much detail is audible. The colors are all there, and the orchestra really plays well.
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Original LP release of Symphony No. 5
Eric Seddon Collection |
This is an uneven set, when it comes to sound quality. Unfortunately, I find the D major Symphony (No 5) to be one of lesser quality. But the musicality is all there. Like the earlier RVW 2, this might not be the version you return for repeated listening, but with the composer present, and the interpretation so sound and foundational, every serious listener or performer will want to know this important historic recording.
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Original Release LP of Symphony No 6
Eric Seddon Collection |
At one point, I'd collected over half of the the LPs from this cycle - I owned Symphonies 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. Unfortunately, a flooded basement and water damage seem to have claimed my recordings of 2, 3, and 7, but the others have survived. My copy of 6 is almost pristine vinyl, so it's possible to do a side by side comparison of the transfer quality to the original sound. To my ear the transferring done in 2002 did full justice to the originals, such as we possess them. This is really great news - it means those who own the CDs get the real deal. I can't find attribution for the remastering, but whoever did it for Decca at the time really gave us the best product available. This recording of Symphony No 6 in E minor is, like the other eight in this set, an essential reference for interpreters of the piece going forward, having been done in the presence of the composer himself. Like the 3rd and 4th of this cycle, the sound is generally good for its era - one of the better recorded of this set. The brass have the trademark Boult "crunch" for maximum intimidation - those inner voices all speaking menacingly, most particularly in the tense second movement.
Boult's scherzo, as has been noted by others, is not as ferocious as subsequent interpretations. I tend to like the horrible aural spectacle of an orchestra sawing itself in two for this movement, and so prefer those later versions by conductors like Slatkin and Previn, but all of that having been said, Boult once again tends to the melodic content first and foremost, and where it isn't exactly ferocious, it is certainly muscular.
The pianissimo epilogue is one of the finest: it has a shimmering, hushed, almost starlit quality. Other recordings seem to represent this fourth movement as more desolate; somehow this version is more consoling, at least for me. Boult understands the overarching melodic content of this movement, and so it floats by seeming to move very quickly, but in fact lingers just correctly. Once again, despite protestations of the composer, this piece can't seem to separate itself from an imagined program. Since its first performances, it's been associated the end of WWII in the public imagination. I fall into this too - I mean what composer has ever depicted something so much like violent warfare, followed by desolation (which so many heard as a reference to the destroyed cities of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or Dresden)?
With that in mind, it's in this particular recording, most strongly, that I feel RVW asking humanity "Where will we go from here? The stars are shining on the dead, but we've been given another chance. What will we do when the sun rises again tomorrow?"
This performance of the epilogue impressed the composer so deeply that we're about a minute and a half spoken address: RVW himself thanking the London Philharmonic for the sensitive and meaningful performance.
This Sinfonia Antartica (No 7) is close to my heart, if only for the number of times I've changed friends' opinion of the piece by having them listen to Boult's opening. The climax of the introduction (in the score at the Largamente before rehearsal number 5) with the soaring French Horns answered by the strings is so powerful, even the least sympathetic of listeners have been moved to considering it again. For mono, this is a very compelling recording, and the "lift" Boult achieves with the orchestra is unique in the recording.
There's a debate as to whether the superscriptions to each of the movements should be read aloud for concerts or recordings, but I think this recording puts that debate to rest. Sir John Gielgud recites them here, and that's good enough for me: they clearly belong. They add a necessary poetic element and direction to the piece that is essential.
The wordless chorus here is clearly captured, and their performance is one of the strongest. The drama and contrast makes this one of my top picks for any of the recordings of No 7. Boult's scherzo is instructive: Leviathan music yielding to penguin music, dissolving into melody; the play of bright, sparkling ocean waves dancing about dark undercurrents maintained with a brighter sheen on this recording than so many others. Perhaps the mono sound forces us to listen more to the upper voices and textures, but in general, Boult's (and RVW's?) conception of the piece seems more hopeful and less despairing than other versions, demonstrating the vast interpretive range RVW's music.
Boult's reading of the Intermezzo is heartfelt but without sentimentality. The emotion comes from the direction of the phrases and how they are sung - always forward motion, never cloying. The destiny of the piece, after all, will not be stopped by these moments of beauty.
The finale is resolute, brusque, shocking. This is an essential recording.
The recording of Symphony No 8 in D minor is really only of interest as a document, considering the composer was in the room. It's solid, for the most part, though the second movement is weak. The third movement, containing such lush and reflective music, seems rushed for no reason. The finale has spirit, but much of the detail is lost in a giant mush of sound, dominated oddly by overbalanced trombone at the end.
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Original Release LP for Symphony No 9
Eric Seddon Collection |
Symphony No 9 in E minor, recorded in stereo for Everest, is another matter altogether. For me, this is really the most essential recording of the piece. Beginning with the haunting announcement of the composer's death the night before the recording session by Sir Adrian, the music takes on an elegiac character that cannot be matched. The sound is probably the finest of the set. Sure there are cleaner performances out there, crisper playing, but throw all concerns of raggedness aside - this is pure passion from Boult and the London Philharmonic. There are few recordings that match both the situation and the masterful playing. Sidney Bechet's recording of "Summertime" for a recording session that was supposed to include Tommy Ladnier (who had died the night before) and the Duke Ellington band's album dedicated to Billy Strayhorn immediately after he'd passed (...And His Mother Called Him Bill) are the two that immediately come to my mind. Musicians under these circumstances can imbue the music with a depth otherwise impossible. It seems to me this is such a recording. Every dedicated listener of Vaughan Williams's music should have it - and even every listener of 20th century orchestral music.
To summarize: this set is essential for every devotee of Vaughan Williams, and should be required listening for all conductors of his symphonies. Get your hands on a set while you still can.
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