BaL 8.02.14 - Vaughan Williams Symphony no. 9

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Building a Library 9.30 a.m.
Jonathan Swain makes a personal recommendation from recordings of Vaughan Willliams' darkly enigmatic 9th Symphony.

Available recordings:-

Bournemouth SO, Kees Bakels
National Symphony Orchestra, Pedro de Freitas Branco
LPO, Sir Adrian Boult (2 versions)
BBC SO, Sir Andrew Davis
LPO, Bernard Haitink
RLPO, Vernon Handley
LSO, Andre Previn
RPO, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Philharmonia Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
London Symphony Orchestra, Bryden Thomson

[visualnickmos]

Great list as always - but I thought there would have been a few more recordings......

Looking forward to this BaL; tomorrow's as well, for that matter. I quite like Haitink's EMI recording of this from the marvellous box set.

[Roehre]

Building a Library 9.30 a.m.
Jonathan Swain makes a personal recommendation from recordings of Vaughan Willliams' darkly enigmatic 9th Symphony.

Available recordings:-

Bournemouth SO, Kees Bakels
LPO, Sir Adrian Boult (2 versions)
LSO, Sir Adrian Boult
BBC SO, Sir Andrew Davis
LPO, Bernard Haitink
RLPO, Vernon Handley
LSO, Richard Hickox
LSO, Andre Previn
Philharmonia Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
London Symphony Orchestra, Bryden Thomson

And again it looks like RVW is recorded exclusively if a British orchestra or conductor is involved

[Flosshilde]

Great list as always - but I thought there would have been a few more recordings......

Perhaps EA hasn't finished the list yet?

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...-nuits-d-été

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I really have finished.
But don't be so glum. When I first became interested in VW in the last 60s, there were ZERO recordings available. The pioneering Boult recording had been deleted. It may still be his least popular symphony, though a poll on the BBC Messageboards revealed it to be many people's favourite, following a Proms performance.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It may still be his least popular symphony, though a poll on the BBC Messageboards revealed it to be many people's favourite, following a Proms performance.

Ah, yes! The Andrew Davis eye-opener: my respect for him shot up after that concert - and wasn't it available on a BBCMusMag cover CD? If so, well worth investing in if you can find it.

[Bryn]

Let's not forget:

[visualnickmos]

I think this symphony has one of the most haunting and mysteriously beautiful endings of any symphony - but not all recordings that I've heard so far, "pull it off" if I can put it like that.

[seabright]

And again it looks like RVW is recorded exclusively if a British orchestra or conductor is involved

Two non-British performance have indeed been overlooked:

Leopold Stokowski and his Symphony Orchestra - 'live' US Premiere, Carnegie Hall, 1958, on Cala Records CACD0539
Pedro de Freitas Branco and the National Symphony Orchestra - 'live' Portuguese Premiere, also 1958, on Strauss Portugalsom SP 4084

Hopefully the Belgian Premiere will be issued sometime on CD from a 2008 Flemish Radio Orchestra broadcast conducted by Richard Egarr.
Until it is released, Egarr's terrific performance can be heard on You Tube ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foioL-VR2eU

There has never been a complete RVW cycle recorded outside the UK, whereas the number of non-Finnish Sibelius cycles from the USA and Europe make up a very long list indeed. Are RVW's symphonies really that inferior to Sibelius's, I wonder?

I see also that the World Premiere of RVW9 by the RPO under Sargent is on Pristine Audio (PASC 234) and is a much better performance than RVW commentators would at one time have had us believe. It's coupled with Mitropoulos and the NBC SO in a wartime broadcast of RVW's "London" but unfortunately that is not in such good sound as the Sargent BBC broadcast.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah, yes - the Stokowski. I've added it. Not sure whether the de Freitas Branco is generally available.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

An interesting overview:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/oct99/vw9.htm

[seabright]

Ah, yes - the Stokowski. I've added it. Not sure whether the de Freitas Branco is generally available.

The Stokowski CD is of course available direct from Cala Records direct, or via Amazon, both as a conventional CD and as a download ...

http://www.calarecords.com/acatalog/info_CACD0539.html

The Portuguese CD seems to be available as a download if this site is to be believed ...

http://www.discogs.com/Pedro-de-Freitas-Branco-Tchaikovsky-Vaughan-Williams-National-Symphony-Orchestra-David-Oistrakh-Vol-/release/2982478

The Sargent is also available as a CD or a download, as per this link ...

http://www.pristineclassical.com/pasc234.html

Incidentally, Cala also has Stokowski in No. 4 with the NBC SO from a wartime broadcast and No. 6 with the NYPO from 1949. Those, plus his No. 9 from New York and a No. 8 from the 1964 Proms on BBC Legends, go almost halfway to a complete cycle. Pity he didn't record the others!

[EdgeleyRob]

One of those rare occasions when I have most of the versions mentioned.

I think the Bakels on Naxos is stunning,indeeed the whole cycle doesn't get the acclaim it deserves IM0.

Availabe for less than £13 new here http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Complete.../dp/B0017PB25Y

[EdgeleyRob]

A difficult choice thinking about it,not really a duff one amongst them.

The LPO,Boult (1958)is clearly very special,being recorded so soon after RVW's death,and with the tribute from Sir Adrian on the record.
The sound is great too,this would be my choice.

[BBMmk2]

This one is of RVW's most underrated symphonies. Infact, probably his best?