Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), Richard Hickox (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Ian Watson (Performer), Malcolm Hicks (Performer), Carys-Anne Lane (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ian Watson, Malcolm Hicks, Carys-Anne Lane
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Richard Hickox
• Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Audio CD (August 12, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B00009VZHI
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,334 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Valiant for Truth, motet for chorus (with piano or organ ad lib)

2. Symphony No. 5 in D major: I. Preludio. Moderato

3. Symphony No. 5 in D major: II. Scherzo. Presto misterioso

4. Symphony No. 5 in D major: III. Romanza. Lento

5. Symphony No. 5 in D major: IV. Passacaglia. Moderato

6. The Pilgrim Pavement, hymn for soprano, chorus & organ (or orchestra)

7. Hymn tune Prelude on Song 13 by Orlando Gibbons, for piano in G major

8. The Pilgrim's Progress, opera: The Twenty-third Psalm

9. Prelude & Fugue for organ in C minor: Prelude

10. Prelude & Fugue for organ in C minor: Fugue

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vaughan William as Pilgrim, May 12, 2009

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

Vaughan Williams' opera of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was a career-long project, begun in 1906 and completed in 1951. During this period, the work-in-progress served as both source and inspiration for several religious choral works and also his fifth symphony. Indeed, the Romanza movement of the symphony was extracted from the opera. This album includes these opera-derived pieces.

What is it about a fifth symphony among a long series? Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, among others, produced remarkably strong and well-developed fifths that are highlights of their symphonies. Vaughan Williams' own such symphony is lyrical and lush. Its suggestion of a contemplative theme is as evident as the body of Mahler's symphonic explorations. In the hands of Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra, plus an engineering team to produce this excellent SACD recording, the symphony shines with romantic beauty. It has a largely quiet pastoral feeling. Although I admit that this is my least favorite Vaughan Williams symphony, I do enjoy the rich harmonic wash of sound, and that sound itself is wonderfully full and clear with a surround-sound system. The brief vocal and organ works are pleasant but essentially fillers, although thematically related. I particularly enjoyed the heavenly Twenty-third Psalm. In contrast to the previous soft, floating music, the album concludes with a bright and powerful Prelude and Fugue for orchestra with organ, an impressive way to leave the listener.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime!, August 3, 2007

By 

Nancy Wiley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

Vaughan Williams's 5th Symphony is easily laudable as one of his most beautiful works - practically bursting with sonic splendour. In this exquisite recording by the LSO, the symphony is given "the works" in terms of performance, atmosphere, and musical pathos. The LSO - as befits what is perhaps the world's greatest orchestra - never once seems strained by the music (as have some orchestras in other recordings), and the musicians seem intensely aware of just how much passion must be balanced with delicacy in this profound music. I recommend this recording with much delight!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointing Release From Hickox And LSO, August 30, 2010

By 

J. Rich - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 (Audio CD)

Richard Hickox was an outstanding conductor and in the field of English music he had few rivals. You would naturally think that a conductor who excelled in English music would be a great RVW conductor well this isn't the case with this recording of Vaughan Williams' much-loved "Symphony No. 5." The problem I have with this recording is with Hickox not the London Symphony Orchestra.

As I have mentioned in my other reviews, you can have a great orchestra like the LSO who play great but if they misguided by the conductor than the performance isn't going to be worth your time. If there isn't a connection there, then you have nothing. All you have is a warm body up on a podium with baton pretending to be interested.

The general problem with this performance of the 5th is that he doesn't seem all that interested in the music. His attention to the details isn't there. This could have very well been an off day for him, but if that were the case I don't think it should have been released, because his heart isn't in this symphony. The famous "Romanza" section sounds completely uninvolving, which, in turn, makes it sound lifeless.

I own every recording of RVW's 5th symphony, so my opinion is not without experience. Hickox simply fails to capture this great work's elusive magic. He doesn't even come near Boult's (on EMI), Thomson (Chandos), Davis (Warner Classics), or Previn (Telarc). These are the best performances I've heard of the 5th. Compared to these performances, Hickox sounds unexpressive and disinterested.

The other pieces of this recording are filler and aren't that interesting even for an RVW fan like myself.

The audio quality is also sub-par and not up to Chandos' usual standards in my opinion. I'm not sure how it sounds in SACD, so I can't answer how this layer of the disc sounds.

Only the serious RVW collector will want to acquire this disc. I'm not going to part ways with it, but it will remain on shelf because I collect RVW's music. This is the only reason why I'm keeping it.