Customer Reviews

Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music; The Lark Ascending; Fantasia on Greensleeves; English Folk Song Suite; In the Fen Country; Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This silvery disc contains rapturous readings of some very good works of genuinely English music. Overall sound is really good (fares quite well, even when compared to the "audiophile" records of the day). The choice of "tunes" is representative.

Recently, i revisited a couple of versions of `The Lark Ascending' which hark back to the good old days of "stereo" : One by Neville Marriner with his excellent musicians of St.Martin's and a few others, including Boult's. In fact, Boult's record certainly has "the edge" over Marriner and his authority makes no doubt ; that being said, they both give us strong and credible readings of a timeless work written for the violin. The Boult recording is especially top-level. Hugh Bean, a soloist of choice , has a masterful presence that complements fittingly Boult's fine orchestral control. For an historic recording of 'The Lark' you should look for Boult's seemingly unsurpassed version with violinist Jean Pougnet (released on Dutton). Be warned : Sound quality of the latter -a vintage mono recording- is far from the excellence provided by EMI or Decca in their later stereo recordings. Brilliant conductor Richard Hickox, in a superb EMI collection, offers another stupendous reading of 'The Lark' ; the solo violin of Bradley Creswick and the magnificent play-through of the orchestra deliver one of the top performances on disc - i venture to say it is nearly as good as the EMI/Boult!

Additionally to 'The Lark', there are lovely performances offered on the EMI/Boult cd : 'Serenade to Music' is not quite outclassed by the original performance under Henry Wood--which is a glorious 1930's recording but with somewhat limited sound. Boult's rendition is also better than the one from Matthew Best on Hyperion, though very good the latter is. No wonder since Boult had set up a first-class team for the recording, featuring a handful of artists chosen among the finest singers from Europe. There also exist a very good choral-only version by Vernon Handley (again, on EMI). The 'Norfolk Rhapsody No.1' is another treasured piece of music in which Boult does fairly better than the "competition" (for instance, Barry Wordsworth's version with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra isn't as good a reading). 'In the Fen Country', with its refreshing musical atmosphere, also receives a charming and colorful presentation. The comparatively brief 'Fantasia on Greensleeves' is as delightful as its name suggests, though i will always have a sweet spot for the likes of Abravanel or Previn for their superlative virtues.

The 'English Folk Song Suite' does pretty well here, thanks notably to careful orchestral touches ; perhaps, the Intermezzo is slightly more efficient under Vernon Handley, the glorious strings of the RLPO redefining the loftiness of that "pastoral" piece. Neville Marriner did, as well, a particularly beautiful recording of it. However, for some sheer sound and bursting percussive impacts, one shall look at a handful of excellent versions for wind bands--much preferable in that case (after all, the suite was intentionally written for military -wind band- sonorities). This is the best way to hear the work at it's fullest (i urge you to hear the Grenadier Guards, issued on Emblem as EMBL8001).

In conclusion : Reliable sound and honest interpretations. EMI Records offer a real gift of music with this splendid album of works by Vaughan Williams. Check it out!
*****

I recently watched an interview on PBS with the composer John Corigliano. In the interview Corigliano was lamenting the current state of criticism within classical music. An intellectual elite have imposed their aesthetics on a generation of composers and listeners. This aesthetic essentially boils down to whether music is complex and "deep" enough to be considered good. If the music is merely entertaining of beautiful to listen to the critics say it is worthless drivel. Corigliano voiced his disagreement with this aesthetic (one which I share). People should not be ashamed of a piece of music simply because they like it.

I mention all this in order to say that if I were the kind of person who got ashamed of music simply because of its beauty, then this disc of works by Ralph Vaughan Williams would probably be among the first inductees into my hall of shame.

This music is beauty in motion...from the stunningly sunny "Serenade to Music" to the aching "Lark Ascending," there is not a bad piece of music on this disc.

Since I am not a particularly shame-filled person, I find myself free to mention that I have found the "English Folk Song Suite" and "Norfolk Rhapsody No 1" two of the best pieces of music to listen to while reading the works of Tolkien.

It says something about the greatness of a work when you really like all the pieces and have no clear-cut favorite among them...such is the case with this disc and me. I give it my highest recommendation.

These performances have never been out of print and there's a good reason. They are treasured by many lovers of Vaughan Williams as being the best modern-era recordings of some of his most lovable music. Short of having a recording of the 1930s première of 'Serenade to Music', I can't think of another recording that even comes close. It's the version for sixteen solo voices, not the choral version or the orchestra-alone version. It's the music as RVW wrote it.

As for Hugh Bean's ecstatic performance of 'The Lark Ascending', it's never been bettered.

I have a friend who was so enamored of the Folk Song Suite that he and his bride had selections played at their wedding. Guess which version they had piped over the PA system? You guessed it. (This recording, by the way, is the arrangement for full orchestra that Gordon Jacobs made from the wind band original.)

Don't hesitate. As for me, this is one of my Desert Isle CDs. (I wonder if I can get batteries for my Discman on that desert isle?)

Many years after his death, Sir Adrian Boult continues to be admired as one of the linchpin -- and perhaps the archtype -- conductors of the music of his friend and countryman, Ralph Vaughan Williams. This recording, made in the autumnal years of Boutl's life, is a generous collection of bucolic English music from Vaughan Williams.

While these performances are lovely, as the other reviewers here have reported, they pale in comparison to the passion Boult provided earlier in his career. On a recording made from a Westminster LP, Boult provided more passionate and committed versions of the English Folk Song Suite, Greensleeves Fantasia and Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 linked to a dramatic reading of the Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, one of Vaughan Williams most popular and enduring tunes.

Like the comparison between his early mono recordings of Vaughan Williams' symphonies and his later stereo recording, Boult was simply older and more at ease with the music in the later recordings. While they are still wonderful, the later stereo recordings lack some of the mystery and passion of his earlier work, especially his "Antartica" symphony. People that search the Internet relentlessly can locate the earlier recordings including a CD restoration of the old Westminster record.

For those not interested in that, these renderings of Serenade to Msuic, English Folk Song Suite, Norfolk Rhapsody No.1, Fantasia On 'Greensleeves', In The Fen Country and violinist Hugh Bean's The Lark Ascending are beautifully done at a lower voltage. Either gives you the ethereal Boult although his earlier recordings, sometimes in mono, give life and breadth to these works not reflected here.

Though this recording is a compilation of recordings created between 1967 through 1987 and then re-mastered, it remains the critic's and the public's choice for this amazingly beautiful selection of the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Sir Adrian Boult conducts both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Philharmonia Orchestra in the way that only he could produce the strange beauty of Vaughan Williams little pieces.

No expense was spared for the original pressings. Hugh Bean is the incomparable soloist for 'The Lark Ascending', very likely the finest recorded performance of this work. And the sixteen soloists for the 'Serenade to Music' include such luminaries as Sheila Armstrong, Norma Burrowes, Ian Partridge, John Noble, Alfreda Hodgson - some of Britain's finest vocalists. Even the evergreen 'Fantasia on 'Greensleeves' sounds new and the less often performed 'In the Fen Country' and 'English Folksong Suite' and 'Norfolk Rhapsody' are performed with such seamless beauty that they 'are such stuff as dreams are made on.'

For lovers of Vaughan Williams this CD is indispensable: for those who know little of his output, this is one fine start toward a deeper appreciation of the power of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, February 06

I laughed when I read one reviewer here who admitted that he liked to play this lovely CD while reading Tolkien. And why not? It's the magic of art to make those of us who live in the desert Southwest (or midtown Manhattan) believe we are atually in an English thatched cottage around the time of WW I, nourishing our English souls with the comforting music of Vaughan Williams.

There have been better, certainly more modern composers, but VW had the rare ability to evoke an entire culture. Every work here speaks of his total union with the English spirit, and these readings by Boult are beyond reproach. I don't traffic in "best recording ever" talk, and there are versions of the Serenade to Music that I cherish from Matthrew Best and (above all) Leonard Bernstein at the opening of Philharmonic Hall in 1962. Yet this would probably be the one CD I'd give a young friend to win him or her over to one of the most lovable and accessible of great composers.

Vaughan Williams is known for writing some of the most beautiful music and the Serenade to Music is proof of that. In it the composer takes text from the last act Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and places it with some of the most magical and lyrical music of his output. It is delicious and luscious and is the reason to buy this CD. In the Fen Country and The Lark Ascending do not sound as inspiring as more recent recordings but are still quite good. I also prefer the English Folk Song Suite in its intended Military Band setting. Overall, this is a good collection of Vaughan Williams orchestral music, though it lacks Dives and Lazarus and the haunting Tallis Fantasia. There are better all-digital performances available of these works, but not together on one CD.

For my money, 20th-century classical music never gets more resplendently beautiful than "The Lark Ascending" and "Serenade to Music." The former has melodies of such piercing loveliness that it's like a gift to the soul; the latter, in my humble opinion, is as masterful a musical setting of a Shakespeare text as has ever been composed. Sir Adrian Boult's versions were the first I ever heard, and to my mind no one--not even Sir Neville Marriner--has ever surpassed Boult in this repertoire. One might regret the lack of the Tallis Fantasia and "Dives and Lazarus" on this CD, but for the exquisite performances of "Lark Ascending" and the Serenade, it is emphatically worth the money.

I'm reminded of what classical music making is really all about every time I listen to the 'Serenade'. Take an exquisite passage from one of history's greatest English writers (Shakespeare), act V scene I from the Merchant of Venice, add the superb engineering talent of Christopher Parker, and what one gets is a world class but intimate recording of outstanding English musicians.

Vaughn Williams wrote some of the most endearing English music and the 'Serenade' is the high point of this disc. The 16 soloists perform admirably and their accompaniment from Boult and the London Philharmonic is excellent. The other works presented on this disc are performed with just as much detail and passion.

A great disc, a great recording!

I was a music major in college, and while I was working my way through the Standard Repertoire, a professor (a monk) looked over his bifocals at me one day and said "I prefer the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams." At the time I had little use for the musings of monks, and blew by his remark like a BMW dusting a roadside lemonade stand...

How wrong I was...

This CD contains some of the finest musical composition of the 20th century. Really. Not only is every piece a jewel of self-contained, organic beauty--one can also hear how RVW influenced an entire generation (or two) of composers. For example, Mikos Rozsa owes RVW a debt of gratitude for entire passages of the Ben-Hur movie score. It's all right there.

The joyous relief of the Serenade to Music, the deep swirling intoxication of the Norfolk Rhapsody, and of course the poignant humanity of the Lark Ascending are simply miraculous. And Sir Adrian Boult gives them firm, clear readings which allow the music to tell the story.

T.S Eliot, in "Tradition and the Individual Talent," writes "Poetry..is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration, of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation."

When I listen to RVW, I hear that "concentration of a great number of experiences," which, somehow taken in as a whole during the course of listening, create this beautiful world which one must visit again and again.