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5.0 out of 5 stars
The "new" best VW Symphony 8, Jan 3 2003
In a review of Haitink's RVW Symphonies 8 and 9 on EMI, I said that they were the best, "for now." The 8th has been finally outclassed--by a performance from 1967!That this recording is by Barbirolli should not be too much of a surprise, as he was in fact the symphony's dedicatee, and a favorite conductor of Vaughan Williams himself. There is a natural rapport between the two, which allows Barbirolli to go beneath the surface of the music, and find the deeper meanings not at first evident on the page. The first movement of the symphony is stately in its grandeur, like other recordings, yet even at its triumphant climax, the music still feels somewhat restrained. This same sense of foreboding--which Vaughan Williams himself pointed out when asked about the symphony--lasts through the defiant Scherzo for brass instruments, and the heartwearming Cavatina for strings, until the very final moments of the concluding Toccata. Even here, Barbirolli manages to make the collection of "all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer" even more lively and prominent than does Haitink or his other rivals. However, compared to other recordings, the final bars of this performance hold one more surprising detail, which confirms that the symphony is in fact in a minor key and also supports the idea that there's something deeper than the "Turandot"-inspired tintinnabulation. All in all, a tour de force. [Listen to this recording, and the endings of all other performances will seem like a cop-out.] There's much more to this disc than the Eighth Symphony, and happily most of it is on the same inspired level. The Rawsthorne and Bax works are new to me, but very welcome additions to my collection. I also enjoyed the Delius, and while Walton's "Crown Imperial" is fervently played, the orchestral ensemble is not quite what it could be. And, while I'm glad to have another recording of Kathleen Ferrier, the recording of "Land of Hope and Glory" does have a lot of background noise to filter out. Without the liner notes, one would have thought that "Land" was recorded in the mid-1930's, not the early 1950's. [All the other works were recorded between 1967 and 1969, and are in perfectly good sound.] This disc is a must-have for Barbirolli enthusiasts, RVW fans, and anyone interested in hearing British music in a non-pastoral vein. . . .
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