Originally released
under the Teldec banner, this newly-packaged
Warner Classics six CD boxed set enters
the market hot on the heels of EMI’s
equally newly-packaged Vaughan Williams
box as realised by Bernard Haitink and
the LPO. Add to this the competition
of Handley, Previn, Slatkin and Boult
together with ongoing individually released
projects from Paul Daniel on Naxos and
Richard Hickox on Chandos and one starts
to realise the range of choice. It is
a luxury that VW fans could only have
dreamed of as recently as ten years
ago. If one looks to price alone as
a means of thinning down the choice
it becomes no easier. Handley, Boult
and Haitink are all available at around
or even less than the twenty pounds
mark.
Ultimately, with price
concerns cast aside, the choice comes
down to one of quality. I will say right
away that in this department Davis and
the BBC Symphony Orchestra offer a very
mixed bag indeed.
In his conception of
the Sea Symphony Davis
does demonstrate a sense of command.
Getting to grips with this most sprawling
of Vaughan Williams symphonies is no
mean feat although in recent times Paul
Daniel achieved it admirably on Naxos
with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Davis grasps the architecture of the
work as surely as he does with Elgar;
I have always found Davis to be a sure
footed Elgar interpreter. He creates
a sense of cohesion that not all of
the competition manage to achieve. Admittedly
he is aided by sterling vocal contributions
from his soloists, with Thomas Hampson
being particularly noteworthy. The ever-reliable
BBC Symphony Chorus is also in fine
fettle. Add to this an impressively
engineered recording with excellent
orchestral and choral perspective and
this opening instalment in the cycle
offers considerable promise.
Sadly I have rather
more reservations when it comes to A
London Symphony.
Whilst the opening movement gains spirit
with its passage, the mist-shrouded
opening comes across as subdued rather
than atmospheric despite impressive
pianissimo playing. The Lento slow movement
fares better, yet Davis’s somewhat pedestrian
tempo in the Scherzo robs the music
of its hustle, bustle and character.
Late in his life Vaughan Williams was
to comment that he never again replicated
the transparency of texture that he
achieved in this movement. His gossamer
like orchestration is even more effective
when band and conductor have the conviction
to let it take flight. Although the
Finale restores matters somewhat the
vagaries of the performance leave an
uneven impression.
The Symphony
No. 3 is VW’s most personal
symphonic utterance. I well remember
attending a Prom performance some years
ago by the very same orchestra and conductor
here recorded that held the audience
in rapt silence. If only one could say
that more often of Prom audiences! Sadly
that palpable sense of atmosphere is
missing. In the finest recordings (Handley
and Previn are magnificent!) it is the
pain of the inspiration as much as the
sheer beauty of the music that can leave
an indelible impression. Yet despite
decent enough orchestral playing from
the BBC Symphony Orchestra the performance
as a whole lacks emotional depth. Even
in the quicker third movement, marked
Moderato pesante-Presto, the overall
impression is one of superficiality.
It is a lack of drive
and ultimately purpose that dogs the
mighty Symphony No. 4.
Once again issues of tempo raise their
head as Davis chooses speeds that restrict
the momentum of the music. In the outer
two movements Davis is over a minute
slower than Paul Daniel in his revelatory
recent recording with the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra. This is a point
that is particularly telling in the
Finale, which the composer himself took
at a daredevil pace in his own legendary
recording of the work. If ever there
is a symphony that should avoid the
pedestrian this is it but I am sorry
to say that the lack of conviction in
the playing here relegates the recording
to that very rank.
The Fifth Symphony
fares somewhat better, partly due to
Tony Faulkner’s beautifully rounded
recording. Indeed it is fair to say
that throughout this cycle the quality
of engineering is beyond reproach. The
orchestral detail in the Scherzo is
captured with crystal clarity and the
sound of the orchestra has just the
right amount of bloom. Once again however,
this does not mask the fact that the
overall performance fails to convince.
The elusive marriage of ecstasy and
serenity is naggingly missing from the
Romanza.
Paradoxically it is
the atmosphere of desolation that Davis
and his players capture in the final
movement of the Sixth Symphony
that marks it out as one of the highlights
of the set. Whether the invigoration
of commencing the cycle played a part
we will never know; this was the first
of the symphonies to be released individually.
What is certain is that the conviction
lacking in the Fourth Symphony
is on display here in abundance. The
first movement’s potent message is terrifyingly
portrayed and as with the malevolently
cackling Scherzo detail is evident everywhere.
The obsessive and incessant rhythm of
the second movement Moderato becomes
painful in its relentlessness but it
is the sheer emptiness of the final
Epilogue that hammers home and terrifies
every bit as much as the devastating
power of the opening movement.
Once again Tony Faulkner’s
accomplished engineering vividly captures
the sonic spectacle of the Sinfonia
Antartica whilst Davis and the
orchestra turn in some pleasing results,
if not on a par with the quality of
the Sixth. Certainly the spirit of endeavour
at the opening and the bleakness of
the landscapes are atmospherically done
although Davis’s penguins in the Scherzo
come across as distinctly humourless
creatures.
Sadly the Eighth
Symphony is once again plagued
by questionable choice of tempi. Davis
tries to force the pace far too much
in the first movement, whilst there
is a total lack of coordination between
strings and percussion a few bars in.
The Scherzo and Finale are an improvement
although there are more tender accounts
of the gorgeous Cavatina.
The recordings of the
Ninth Symphony in E minor
and Job were made at about
the same time but it is in the latter
that we have the real highlight of this
box. The Ninth certainly
comes close to a fine recording but
this is Vaughan Williams at his most
enigmatic and whilst there are impressive
moments the performance as a whole does
not quite convey the visionary message
of the music as convincingly as Handley
or Haitink. Haitink in particular excels
on EMI with the LPO. The Haitink is
coupled with a decent if not quite so
impressive Eighth. Job
however is simply magnificent. So much
so that with the exception of the Sixth
Symphony the unevenness
of the symphony recordings is exaggerated
to an even greater degree. With one
minor quibble in The Dance of Job’s
Comforters, where Davis is once
again on the quick side, orchestra and
conductor are at the height of their
form. They offer ravishing playing in
the slower sections and terrific menace
in the passages of satanic darkness.
Soloists too are uniformly excellent
and it is good to see principal oboe
Richard Simpson credited for the Dance
of the Three Messengers as
well as Michael Davis for ravishing
solo violin playing in Elihu’s Dance
of Youth and Beauty, one of the
most beautiful moments in Vaughan Williams’
entire output.
The Fantasia
on a Theme of Thomas Tallis,
The Lark Ascending, Greensleeves
and the Overture to The Wasps
all receive creditable recordings. The
BBC Symphony strings are lush and full-bodied
in the Tallis and Tasmin Little
is a lucid soloist in The Lark
Ascending.
In overview the weaknesses
of this set are considerably greater
than the strengths. A particularly powerful
Sixth Symphony is up there
with the best, even more so Job
which is certainly high on my recommended
list. The sonic qualities of the Sinfonia
Antarctica and a well constructed
Sea Symphony are also
worthy of mention but if it is a complete
set of the RVW symphonies that you require
I would turn to the ever-reliable Vernon
Handley as the best value and consistency
around.
Christopher Thomas
Amanda Roocroft (soprano); Thomas Hampson (baritone)
