Customer Reviews

Vaughan Williams: Hodie (Fantasia on Christmas Carols)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ralph Vaughan William's Hodie is a fantastic Christmas work scored for soloists, choirs and full orchestra. There have only been a handful of recordings over the years and until this NAXOS release, there were only two versions available. Both are on the EMI label and are conducted by David Willcocks and Richard Hickox. The Willcocks is the benchmark recording and I was hoping that this new NAXOS version would be better, or at least equal to it, with improved sound. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Hilary Davan Wetton delivers a sluggish and uninspired interpretation of this choral masterpiece. His heavy handed conducting robs the festive moments of their power and creates overblown drama during the more medatative moments. I started to wonder if Wetton was aware that this is a celebratory work of the Birth and the season and that it was not a Passion Play. The soloist and chorus perform admirably but they cannot overcome Wetton's bloated tempi. I also found the sound below par. While it was nice to hear the organ, percussion, and brass clearly, this came at the expense of the strings. Many of the beautiful string lines are lost due to the poor balancing of instrument sections.

Surprisingly the Fantasia on Christmas Carols fares much better, and had Wetton invested Hodie with the same enthusiasm, my review would be much different.

So there you have it. Hodie should be part of your Christmas tradition as it will lift the haze of seasonal blues from your heart and remind you what the day is actually about. To accomplish this however, you need to steer clear of this recording and make your way to the David Willcocks EMI recording. It is at a budget price and costs less than this NAXOS fiasco. Hodie / Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Wetton's version of Vaughan William's Hodie places a distant third in a three horse race. Not recommended..........

I bought this CD because I enjoy older English composers like Vaugh Williams and John Ritter. The quality of the recording is good and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra always performs at a high standard. Soloists are good but not outstanding. If you like Britten's Ceremony of Carols and Sans Saens Christmas Oratorio, you'll enjoy this recording.

Fantasia On Christmas Carols is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and unusual Christmas pieces ever written. I love it because it begins in a somber, melancholy tone. It is joyous times, but there is always a wistful undertone. The seldom heard Hodie is also here on this CD and it is worth a listen.

I can't quite understand the hostility toward this recording from the other reviewers here. I've just finished listening to this performance, and I found it very pleasant. Tempos are conservative, but not sluggish. In a side-by-side comparison with the classic Willcocks recording on EMI, I found the timings to vary only by a matter of a few seconds here and there--in many cases identical, and occasionally even faster on the part of Hilary Davan Wetton. Soloists are superb, carefully balanced against the chorus and orchestra. Naxos's sound is less than ideal, rather tubby, and I prefer the clarity of the boys' voices in the Willcocks recording to the girls' chorus used in the narration here. But otherwise this hearty, mystical, charming, dramatic work is well worth the budget Naxos price.

What the hell is this tripe? Tempi unbearably sluggish, the singers sound as if they are straight-up constipated! Do not buy!