Sinfonia antartica

"This is the fifth and final instalment of Andrew Manze's cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies which I've been following with great interest ... Manze leads a terrific performance of the symphony [No. 7], which is presented in marvellous recorded sound ... The playful penguins are excellently portrayed here ... The Ninth also receives a performance of stature ... Manze conveys atmosphere very well indeed and he ensures that the climaxes have power and strength ... The performance of the Ninth is memorable, as is the performance of the music of Sinfonia Antartica ... Though, the terribly misguided decision to include the spoken superscriptions severely compromises Sinfonia Antartica".

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"Recording of the week: Manze has evidently made a conscious decision to draw out those more mechanical-sounding edges [in the Antartica] to the sound ... The wordless vocalises in the first and last movements are of fundamental importance to the atmosphere of the work, so a special mention must go to soprano Rowan Pierce ... She tips the balance towards a warmer, more human sound-world, where previous interpretations have tended to play up the ethereal, otherworldy aspect of the polar setting ... The few slight reservations that I had when I reviewed the first instalment of this series three years ago have been swept aside; It's a set truly worthy of mention in the same breath as the venerable cycles by Vernon Handley and Richard Hickox/Andrew Davis".

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"The final disc of Ralph Vaughan Williams's symphonies by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins ... is too good to miss. With its wind machine and wordless women's chorus, cymbal crashes and fortissimo brass and organ, Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia antartica is a vivid aural depiction of the vast snowscape referred to in the title ... This seventh symphony (with soprano Elizabeth Watts and BBC Symphony Chorus) is paired with the melancholy, visionary Symphony No 9, bringing this consistently excellent cycle to a close. After recent sets by Mark Elder and the Hallé, and Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, this is up there as essential listening: the BBCSO at their formidable best".

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"This very fine account of the Ninth wraps up a cycle that has been a distinguished contribution to the discography of Vaughan Williams' symphonies. Martyn Brabbins has consistently displayed - as he does on this disc - great empathy for the music; he knows how to make it work. His cycle has been a very fine achievement and he's been aided and abetted at every turn by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. They've played all the symphonies very well indeed and their collective skills are again on display on this disc".

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"Recording of the week: For me the first movement is one of the most outstanding movements of any Vaughan Williams symphony: it's full of epic grandeur, beautifully conjuring up an Antarctic landscape, and yet in Davis's hands it goes one stage further ... The Bergen players really give it their all ... In Four Last Songs ... Roderick Williams sounds magnificent ... [In] the Concerto in C major for Two Pianos and Orchestra ... it's great to have soloists of the calibre of Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier here; they are highly impressive ... and makes for a fine companion to an outstanding recording of the Sinfonia Antartica".

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"Recommended: Now the Hallé on its in-house label further mark the Vaughan Williams sesquicentennial with two major releases. First is this double set consisting of Sinfonia antartica (Symphony No. 7) and Symphony No. 9 both first Hallé recordings under its music director Sir Mark Elder, making this, the partnership's symphonic cycle, complete. The couplings are a pair of much-loved orchestral works: the Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 and The Lark Ascending ... With these exceptional recordings of the Sinfonia antartica and Symphony No. 9, the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder conclude their complete cycle of the Vaughan Williams symphonies in exemplary style".

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"With an excellent Sinfonia Antartica and an adequate ninth symphony, those collecting Elder's Vaughan Williams symphony cycle can add this with confidence. Others might want to weigh the relative importance to them of the Sinfonia Antartica and the ninth symphony".

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"Anyone listening to this recording will be thrilled to hear so much detail ... and the pathos of Timothy West's recited literary quotations from the head of each movement provides just the right amount of emotional entrée ... For any Vaughan Williams lover, this series of recordings is well worth the acquaintance for its probing, sympathetic interpretations and beauty of sound".

"Martyn Brabbins rounds off his Vaughan Williams symphony cycle for Hyperion with a most impressive account of the Nninth. His is a memorably lucid conception ... Above all, the symphony emerges as a newly minted, profoundly organic whole; indeed, there's an exploratory zeal and infectiously questing spirit about this powerful performance that I feel confident will stand the test of time ... The Sinfonia antartica, too, brings plenty to admire".

"Baritone Roderick Williams is in resplendent voice and generates an unfailingly eloquent rapport with Davis and company. All told, a distinguished release".

"Here's the concluding instalment in Mark Elder's Vaughan Williams symphony cycle on the Hallé's own label ... In sum, an involving and memorably unforced Ninth that should, I think, be sought out by all admirers of the composer".