[.ca] Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 1-9

Vaughan Williams his way:
The first few years I was married, my wife often said to me she felt like she was trying to "make you something you're not". She was insinuating that she had a vision of what the perfect man ought to be, and she would catch herself trying to make me that man. She reformed after a year or two and since has been more than content to let me be the man I am. And that best describes what I feel about Sir Adrian Boult conducting Vaughan Williams in this collection. He lets the music speak for itself. He never tries to give particular emphasis to some element in the score as many conductors do. These recordings date from the 1950s, all but the 8th and 9th being mono. But the age of the recordings and the mono sound in no way detracts from the listening pleasure they bring. I put them alongside any of the competiton and these recordings hold their own or come out far ahead. I've compared them to three other complete cycles: Boult/EMI - Amazon asin # B00004YA0V (8 CDs) Handley/CFP - Amazon asin # B00006J3LP (7 CDs) Previn/RCA - Amazon asin # B00011MK74 (6 CDs) Compared to his own later readings on EMI, I find Boult gets a more restrained performance from the orchestra in these earlier Decca recordings, thus heightening the effect of letting the music speak for itself. And I find the Decca recording a little bit brighter and more well balanced. A good symphony to highlight this effect is the Sea Symphony. The choir in the EMI recording tries to hard to make the music sound good, where the choir in the Decca sounds relaxed, confident, unstrained. And the sound on the Decca is more open, less opaque than the EMI. The Previn cycle is quite good throughout, and features several additional pieces, some of them rare in recordings (this Decca cycle occupies the fewest number of disks of the 4 cycles, 5, but only has the symphonies, nothing more). The obvious comparison with the Previn cycle is the Sinfonia Antartica, no. 7. Only Previn and this Decca recording include the narrative. Sir Ralph Richardson in the Previn is very dramatic and expressive, embellishing the text with much emotion. Sir John Gielgud on this Decca recording is by comparison quite unemotional; like Boult, he speaks eloquently enough to not seem monotonish, but lets the words do the talking, not his interpretation of the words. He makes a good fit for Boult's similar reading of the music. And Richardson makes a similarly good fit for Previn's more dramatic reading. I am quite fond of Previn's recording, but after I listen to the magnificent Boult reading here, I find myself appreciating Previn less, for he emphasizes one emotional element in the music at the cost of all others. The Decca was recorded 1952, but even today it is of demonstration quality, especially with the stunning organ in the ice fall scene. Try as hard as they may, no other recording has come close to this one, engineered by the famous John Culshaw. Which brings me to the Handley recordings. Handley, incidentally, fully admitted he tried to capture the organ scene in Sinfonia Antartica as well the Boult/Culshaw recording, but couldn't quite pull it off. The 5th symphonty is for me the highlight of Handley's set. Handley's recording is a masterpiece both of musical interpretation and audio engineering. This Boult recording comes the closest I've heard to the Handly interpretively, perhaps even edging it out a little once again because of Boult's refusal to indulge in over expressiveness. The sound on the Handley has a littel bit of an edge, but not by much. The sound int eh Boult/Decca recording is nowhere near as lively and opulent as the Handley, but once again is far brighter and more open than the Boult/EMI. Decca has pulled off one of the best engineering jobs with these remasterings. I found the sound to be excellent throughout. The Sea Symphony, Sinfonia Antartica, and Symphony No 9 in this set are not be missed by any Vaughan Williams fan. So, does this get my top choice recommendation? Maybe. If it's going to be your only Vaughan Williams collection, I would recommend either the Previn or the Handley instead, for with those sets you get other pieces in addition to the symphonies, and thus a better representation of Vaughan Williams artistry. Boult's EMI set is the most comprehensive collection of works, and the readings of the symphonies are somewhat comparable to the Decca set, but the execution is nowhere close to the masterly execution in the Decca set, and thus diminishes its attractiveness. But if you want the best collection of the symphonies and will supplement it with other choices for some of the other works, then by far I would chose this set for the symphonies.

Together Again For The First Time:
Sir Adrian Boult sort of did two complete cycles of Vaughan Williams symphonies. The second was in stereo for EMI . The first ...well not quite so simple. The first was recorded by Decca in the 1950's, in the presence of the composer, and consisted of the then complete 8 symphonies. The 8th was stereo while the rest are in excellent mono (the recording of the Sea Symphony was used to demonstrate high end equipment in the Royal Albert Hall). Then the composer composed a 9th Symphony but Sir Adrian was between contracts. No longer at Decca but not yet with EMI. In stepped the American Everest label to record Boult in the 9th. That world premiere recording was done the morning of the composer's death (the session was previously scheduled). So to aquire Boult's first cylce you needed the first 8 from Decca and the 9th from Everest. In the U.S. the Decca's were often hard to come by while the same situation existed in the UK for the Everest. After 40 years Decca has finally hit upon the obvious solution, license the Everest recording. This they have done and we now have Boult's complete first cycle in one set combining the Decca recordings and the Everest. Recorded in the presence of the composer Boult's tempos are brisk but that is what Vaughan Williams wanted. Just listen to the composer's own recording of his 4th symphony for proof of that. He often complained late in life that conductors were taking his works too slow. No problem with that here. Boult also has a fine sense of how these works should flow as well as a good ear for the clarity of orchestral detail. The mono sound of symphonies 1 to 7 are really excellent. After the recording of the 6th there is a brief speech by the composer thanking the players and conductor. So after 40 years Boult's first complete Vaughan Williams cycle; together again for the first time.