A London symphony : 1920 version
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Keywords
Reviews (14)
Classics today
2019
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David Hurwitz
2019
"A bit more than half of this recording is excellent. The rest, not so much. We'll start there. Martyn Brabbins simply lacks the fire that the Fourth Symphony requires ... The performance of A Pastoral Symphony, on the other hand, is beautiful".
AllMusic
2020
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James Manheim
2020
"Brabbins has reached a point where the BBC Symphony Orchestra responds readily to his merest gesture, and as a bonus, listeners get a hitherto unknown work, the Saraband "Helen" for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, a 1913 setting of text by Christopher Marlowe, realized by Brabbins himself from a voice-and-piano score. Essential listening for Vaughan Williams fans".
Classics today
2017
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David Hurwitz
2017
"This second release in Manze's ongoing Vaughan Williams cycle, containing A Pastoral Symphony and Symphony No. 4, isn't quite as good as its predecessor. It could be that Manze has spent a bit too much time in the early music world, because the latter work's fleet delivery and clipped articulation sound almost neo-baroque, when the music demands heaviness and power ... Throughout, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic plays very well, giving Manze exactly what he wants".
The observer
d. 2. Apr. 2017
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Fiona Maddocks
d. 2. Apr. 2017
"The first two symphonies in this Vaughan Williams series with Andrew Manze conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra met with high praise. This second album has the same persuasive mix of poetry, raw splendour and poignancy, with exceptional playing from the RLPO".
The observer
d. 12. Jan. 2020
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Stephen Pritchard
d. 12. Jan. 2020
"Vaughan Williams's Symphony No 3, 'Pastoral' and Symphony No 4 ... two works that could hardly differ more, the quiet and contemplative Pastoral contrasting completely with the ferocious Fourth ... and Brabbins ... perfectly capturing the mystical, impressionist nature inherent in the linear counterpoint of the music, which rarely rouses itself above mezzo forte ... [In] the Fourth Symphony (1934) ... there is some great playing in the urgent, doomy opening of the first movement and in the strenuous polyphony of the frenetic finale, coolly directed by Brabbins in this much recommended landmark recording".
Diapason
2020 février
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Patrick Szersnovicz
2020 février
BBC music magazine
2020 March
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Stephen Johnson (f. 1955)
2020 March
"Orchestral choice: This is a really good performance [of the Pastoral]. On one level Martyn Brabbins is superbly alert to the intricacies of the musical texture. After on hearing I got the score and listened again - so many details I'd hardly noticed before, but there they were. On another level I've rarely, if ever, been so aware of this symphony as a subtle but sustained emotional narrative ... Brabbins's Fourth has many of the same virtues, plus an edgy, uncomfortable intensity of its own".
Diapason
2017 juin
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Patrick Szersnovicz
2017 juin
BBC music magazine
2017 June
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Michael Hayes
2017 June
"Manze's approach, at once equable and gently intense, produces fine results in the first movement [of A Pastoral Symphony] ... Manze keeps a tight rein on all the eruptive orchestral happenings [of the Fourth], which is fair enough in principle, and makes for strikingly coherent results ... An upside throughout is the immaculate quality of the orchestral playing in both works".
BBC music magazine
2015 January
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Malcolm Hayes
2015 January
"Vurdering: BBC music choice - Vurdering: Recording of the month" - "What makes this special is Elder and the Hallé's interpretation of the Pastoral Symphony". Rather than supplanting its all too few predecessors, this reading compliments them by shedding new light on the work".
The gramophone
2020 January
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Jeremy Dibble
2020 January
"Editor's choice: One immediately feels Brabbins's special affinity for this music in the numinous pacing of the first movement of the Pastoral Symphony ... Brabbins and the Hyperion recording team bring a thrilling clarity to the heavier timbres of the Scherzo and the diaphanous, mercurial (even Holst-like) coda ... Brabbins's reading of the first movement of the Fourth Symphony has much of the familiar violence and ferocity that we know from this work ... Saraband 'Helen' ... is a heart-warming gem".
The gramophone
2017 June
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Andrew Achenbach
2017 June
"The RLPO responds with breathtaking composure throughout, countless strands of texture and flecks of detail are laid bare with almost forensic clarity, and in the second movement and finale respectively there are immaculate contributions from Rhys Owens (playing a natural trumpet) and (as sanctioned in the score) tenor Andrew Staples".
International record review
2015 March
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John Warrack
2015 March
"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "It is still a revelation to find how much Sir Mark draws from well-loved and oft-performed scores".
The gramophone
2015 February
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Andrew Achenbach
2015 February
"This is, to my mind, the finest volume yet in Sir Mark Elder's unfolding Vaughan Williams cycle with the Hallé ... A marvellous disc".