Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer: Renee Flynn, Roy Henderson
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Somm
Catalogue: ARIADNE5019-2
Release: 2022
Size: 681 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Symphony No. 2 “London”
01. Ia. Lento – Allegro risoluto
02. Ib. —
03. Ic. —
04. IIa. Lento
05. IIb. —
06. IIc. —
07. III. Scherzo
08. IVa. Finale
09. IVb. —
Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere)
10. Ia. Preludio
11. Ib. —
12. Ic. —
13. II. Scherzo
14. IIIa. Romanza
15. IIIb. —
16. IVa. Passacaglia
17. IVb. —
CD 02
Symphony No. 5 in D major
01. I. Preludio
02. II. Scherzo
03. III. Romanza
04. IV. Passacaglia
Dona nobis pacem
05. I. Lento
06. II. Allegro moderato
07. III. Reconciliation
08. IV. Dirge for Two Veterans
09. V. L’istesso tempo
This release celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with a third volume of archive recordings, featuring signature works conducted by the composer including the 1943 world premiere of his Fifth Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. All performances here have been expertly restored and re-mastered by Lani Spahr.
Recorded during the BBC Proms, the Fifth Symphony is among live performances recorded off the air by engineer Kenneth Leech held in the British Library. Begun under the shadow of mounting fears of war in Europe, it is illuminated by Vaughan Williams’ relationship with his second wife-to-be, Ursula Wood and served, as biographer Simon Heffer’s booklet note says, as “a reminder of the pre-war England in which the composer’s soul and creative spirit remained”. Also from the Leech Collection, the London Symphony Orchestra’s 1946 Proms account of A London Symphony (No. 2), is an “historic performance of one of his greatest and most enduring works”.
A Gramophone Award-winner in 2008 and newly re-mastered for reissue with this celebratory set, the LPO also feature in the Fifth Symphony from 1952, coupled with a 1936 Dona nobis pacem by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists, soprano Renée Flynn and baritone Roy Henderson.