Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams

Stephen Roberts (Performer), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), Richard Hickox (Conductor), Northern Sinfonia of England (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Stephen Roberts
• Orchestra: Northern Sinfonia of England
• Conductor: Richard Hickox
• Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Audio CD (August 1, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00004TQQ6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,594 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams, September 4, 2000

By 

Peter Bryant (Western Kentucky University, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams (Audio CD)

This is a most-welcome CD release, especially since it contains a number of pieces not available on CD until now. It's also excellent value--two discs for the price of one.

Of particular interest is the curious ballet Old King Cole, written for an outdoor performance at Trinity College, Cambridge. Essentially a light-hearted piece, the music is not of the highest level of inspiration overall, but there are moments of real beauty that make up for any shortcomings in the score. For the convinced Vaughan Williams admirer, this is a must-have (RVW himself recorded some of this music; this early mono recording has been released on CD by Pearl records.)

Other items of similar interest include the Prelude On An Old Carol Tune, written for a BBC radio play, and a pair of hard-to-find marches. The instrumental version of the Serenade to Music is a gorgeous novelty, but no substitute for the original version for 16 vocalists and orchestra.

Also included are two important concertos; one for oboe and one for violin, both with string accompaniment. The violin concerto receives the better performance. The rendering of the oboe concerto suffers from too-slow tempi, particularly in the final movement. Neither are major works, but are nonetheless full of interest and deserve to be better known.

Some well-known RVW works are included, among them The Lark Ascending and Five Mystical Songs. The latter is marred by the soloist's excessive tendency to roll his r's--an almost comical sound sometimes. RVW was known to have disliked this sort of affectation.

Overall a valuable collection for anyone interested in this composer. The recordings were made in the 1980s.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vaughan Williams --- off the beaten path, May 16, 2006

By 

chefdevergue (Spokane, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams (Audio CD)

This ample collection demonstrates that Richard Hickox has to be considered one the leading Vaughan Williams interpreters in the post-Boult world, as he puts forth sparkling performances of many little-known works, including the Concerto accademico and the film music "49th Parallel," among others. Quite a number of these compositions are rarely recorded, if ever; it is quite nice to see them in a very affordable collection such as this.

Like another reviewer, I find the affected style of Stephen Roberts to be distracting & annoying. Also, the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music is a pale imitation of the original version...if you have heard Boult's recording, you will understand that the original version is far superior. It is a shame that it wasn't included here.

These are mere quibbles, however. For a dirt-cheap price, you have the opportunity to fill in the gaps of your Vaughan Williams collection. There is no good reason to pass on this. If you stumble across these CDs (I found mine at BestBuy of all places), grab it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Excellent, March 15, 2011

By 

Glen A. Gill (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams (Audio CD)

I first encountered these on vinyl. I immediately fell in love with them. The real gem here (and easily worth the price of this entire set) is the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music. Other reviewers have proclaimed the original version with 16 vocal soloists to be superior. I simply cannot agree. I am not sure of the actual progression, but the Serenade comes in 3 (!) performing versions: one for 16 vocal soloists; one for 4 vocal soloists and chorus; and one completely orchestral version (I suggest this was done at the behest of RVW's publisher since the logistics of bring together 16 vocal soloists for a 16 minute piece of music would be cost prohibitive for most performing organizations). While there is something to be said about opting for RVW's original version. It cannot be said about the Boult recording on EMI (which is usually the standard for this work in its original form). The problem is that you have 16 fine vocalists performing as 16 individual singers. There are moments of true beauty that is marred because the singers never blend as a unified whole when the score requires it. This problem is not a consideration with Hickox's performance of the orchestral version. Everything blends beautifully with a warm, almost glowing, sound; it really pulls at the "heart strings". Some might consider this sacrilege, but, frankly, I really do not miss Shakespear's words that was used as text; sorry, I do not remember the source.

This entire 2 disc set is what would be considered "filler" music; one, two, or more coupled with a symphony. Unfortunate since all of these works, including the much lesser known, deserve to be heard and considered on their own merits.

A must for those RVW fans.