Post by jandl100 on Jul 28, 2019 9:01:55 GMT
I might want to do a few Classical Album Choices for August in an attempt to keep you entertained, and as the July Choice has long since died down I thought I may as well start a bit early 
....
Vaughan Williams, for me the greatest British composer.
He wrote 9 symphonies - many of the best composers seemed to!
I guess he is better known for his shorter pieces like the Tallis Fantasia, the 1st Norfolk Rhapsody and the Lark Ascending.
Those are fabulous, but his symphonies allow him to more fully express his surging, modern romanticism and emotional power, and also to explore new sonorities and forms. He was a surprisingly adventurous composer in many ways.
The symphonies present a broad variety of soundworlds, none seem to sound very much like any of the others.
I've chosen the 8th here, not one of his better known works but I find it interesting and entertaining and very characteristically RVW in the later part of his long life.
Themes seem to flash and surge in and out, broad sweeps of melody are interspersed with brazen brassy interludes. Not sure I can hear that much in the way of traditional symphonic form, although the 4 movements do follow the usual sequence with a perky scherzo and a slow movement in the centre, but it nonetheless seems to make a satisfying whole.
Anyway, let's see what you folks think!
The recording (there are many) that I have chosen is on Chandos for its glorious sound quality and for the conductor Bryden Thomson who excelled in British repertoire and died far too young, sadly.
....Vaughan Williams, for me the greatest British composer.
He wrote 9 symphonies - many of the best composers seemed to!
I guess he is better known for his shorter pieces like the Tallis Fantasia, the 1st Norfolk Rhapsody and the Lark Ascending.
Those are fabulous, but his symphonies allow him to more fully express his surging, modern romanticism and emotional power, and also to explore new sonorities and forms. He was a surprisingly adventurous composer in many ways.
The symphonies present a broad variety of soundworlds, none seem to sound very much like any of the others.
I've chosen the 8th here, not one of his better known works but I find it interesting and entertaining and very characteristically RVW in the later part of his long life.
Themes seem to flash and surge in and out, broad sweeps of melody are interspersed with brazen brassy interludes. Not sure I can hear that much in the way of traditional symphonic form, although the 4 movements do follow the usual sequence with a perky scherzo and a slow movement in the centre, but it nonetheless seems to make a satisfying whole.
Anyway, let's see what you folks think!
The recording (there are many) that I have chosen is on Chandos for its glorious sound quality and for the conductor Bryden Thomson who excelled in British repertoire and died far too young, sadly.
