The Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams [Collectors Edition] [Box set, Soundtrack]

Gamba (Artist), Vaughan Williams (Composer), BBC Philharmonic (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic
• Composer: Vaughan Williams
• Audio CD (June 30, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set, Soundtrack
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B002866UMG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,810 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RVW's Film Music Collected on Three CDs for the Price of Two, July 30, 2009

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams [Collectors Edition] (Audio CD)

Each of the three CDs in this box was issued previously as a single which received very positive reviews here at Amazon and elsewhere. Film Music of Vaughan Williams 1, Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Vol. 2. Chandos has included the complete booklets from the previous issues and put the three CDs in slim jackets so that the whole thing takes up very little shelf space. The performances are simply magnificent. In the 'Scott of the Antarctic' music we get quite a bit of music that has never been recorded before. (Most people are familiar with this music as it was rearranged by RVW for his Seventh Symphony, the 'Sinfonia Antartica', but a lot of the Scott music was left out of the symphony.) A number of the scores in these three discs are in their recorded premieres: 'The People's Land' (for a National Trust film; based on folksongs,it was cut from the film; RVW in his pastoral vein); a suite from '49th Parallel' edited by Stephen Hogger [who did much of the editing and arranging on these discs]); 'The Dim Little Island' (also RVW pastoral); 'The England of Elizabeth' (arranged by Hogger and somewhat similar to the suite previously recorded by André Previn in his set of the complete RVW symphonies; the music is suitably Tudor-sounding); 'The Loves of Joanna Godden' (lyrical, pastoral); and 'Bitter Springs' (suitably harsh for this film about a trek in the Australian outback). Previously recorded music includes 'The Story of a Flemish Farm' and 'Coastal Command Suite' but in better performances than heretofore, and in much better sound. All the works on these three discs are in superior performances and up-to-date recorded sound.

This is a must-have for fans of Vaughan Williams's music.

Scott Morrison