Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Symphony No.5 in D major (1938-43) [39:01]
Symphony No.8 in D minor (1953-55) [29:23]
Hallé/Sir Mark Elder
rec. live, 9 November 2011 and in rehearsal, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester,
England (Sym 5); 3 February 2012, BBC Studios, MediaCityUK, Salford,
England. (Sym 8)
HALLÉ CD HLL 7533[68:24]
Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony was premiered on 24 June 1943. It
had been written over the previous five years. Here in the midst of
the ravages of war, was a vision of Peace Eternal. The symphony uses
themes taken from music Vaughan Williams had been writing for many
years for a dramatization of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
This symphony means a great deal to me personally for its beautiful
mysticism, especially implicit in the Romanza movement helped
me to recover from a serious illness in the mid-1970s. I was listening
then to Sir John Barbirolli’s celebrated 1962 EMI recording. To my
mind its emotional and spiritual intensity has never been surpassed,
not even by this new album which is very good. It can be ranked for
its undoubted merits with any of the leading recordings of this glorious
symphony. These merits I will come to a little later in this review.
The Romanza slow third movement must be played with the utmost
warmth and sensitivity. Michael Kennedy has said that it can be placed
alongside the Larghetto of the Elgar Second Symphony as the
high peaks of English romantic symphonic art. It is in this sublime
movement that most of the Pilgrim music occurs. The agitation at its
centre is Pilgrim’s cry “Save Me Lord! My burden is greater than I
can bear”. The music culminates in an impassioned Alleluia and it
fades away into one of the most magical and radiant codas in all music:
high tremolando strings shimmer over distant horn-calls and the lower
strings then reply in compassionate contemplation.
Sir Mark Elder just misses Barbirolli’s impassioned intensity but
his reading has great merit nonetheless. The clarity of the recording
is excellent; instrumental balance and individual virtuosity in all
departments impress. Elder suggests further shades of meaning particularly
in the scherzo movement which comes off quite brilliantly. The impish
humour is cleverly drawn but not overstated or made brash to overbalance
the basic religiosity of the work.
It was Barbirolli who, in 1956, premiered the 8th Symphony and it
was to ‘Glorious John’, as RVW described Barbirolli, that the Symphony
was dedicated. I like to think of this symphony as being very like
Beethoven’s eighth symphony - Beethoven’s Little Symphony. Both have
much energy and high spirits. Vaughan Williams’ score is remarkable
for its youthful outlook. He could still keep on surprising us even
in his eighties! The orchestration is supremely imaginative; in fact
I would suggest that this work is RVW’s Concerto for Orchestra - all
the players have virtuoso parts. Much emphasis is given to the percussion
section: RVW uses vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, glockenspiel
and three tuned gongs that dominate the outer movements. The first
movement’s opening mood set by trumpet and celesta is extraordinary.
The second movement is I think an affectionate parody of English brass
band music. The third movement for strings returns us to Thomas Tallis
country - the Hallé strings shine beautifully here. The Finale is
a tour de force for the percussion section. Elder’s reading
is first class.
Although this new recording cannot displace the Barbirolli readings
– especially of RVW’s glorious Fifth, this new album has much to commend
it.
Ian Lace
See also reviews by John
Quinn, Michael
Cookson, Michael Greenhalgh
