Symphonies nos. 4 & 6

"In its restless energy, and in the shading of its reflective interludes, this performance [of No. 4] is alive with risk, the sound clean and detailed ... The Sixth (1948), in E minor, with its ebb and flow from roaring torment to hushed anguish, seems embedded in the times it was written ... The LSO's account has its own temporal intensity".

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"Recording of the month: This disc contains a very fine account of the Sixth symphony and a performance of the Fourth that is simply outstanding. If these performances are to represent the sort of collaborations we can expect when Pappano takes over the LSO then we are in for exciting times".

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"Recording of the week: Even without that added emotional ratchet of the impending lockdown, Pappano's accounts would surely have been utterly gripping. From the first grinding dissonances of the Fourth it's clear that he understands these works on a profound level ... One thing he captures particularly magnificently here - the equal even of Handley, who I've long considered the benchmark for Vaughan Williams's symphonies - is the muted numbness of the quieter moments".

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"Att Pappano inte bara är en skicklig operadirigent utan också behärskar orkesterrepertoaren har han bevisat med många inspelningar ... Ska man döma av den här inspelningen har Londonorkestern gjort ett kup som fått Pappano som framtida chef. Det här är helt enkelt Vaughan Williams med makalös inlevelse".

"De indspillede symfonier, nr. 4 og 5, blev skrivet på hver sin side af Anden Verdenskrig ... Men kan Covent Garden-maestroen [Antonio Pappano], der er kendt for sin kapacitet i det italienske repertoire, forsvare endnu en indspilning af Vaughan Williams "forsømte" symfonier? Ja, det kan han, Men om han overgår André Previns skelsættende optagelser med samme orkester? Det er et helt andet spørgsmål - ".

"Antonio Pappano's scrupulously prepared and urgently communicative reading of Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony is a splendidly cogent affair, with no lack of sinewy thrust and tension levels ... Pappano plunges us into the opening maelstrom with thrillingly combustible results, the LSO responding with infectious application ... The Fourth strikes me as somewhat less trenchant, though still full of notable virtues ... No matter, this undeniably powerful newcomer remains well worth experiencing".

"Both conductors ... make a strong case for these symphonies ... Wigglesworth's Fourth arrives with a roar but the outrage is in the remorseless drive; Jurowski suggests parallels with Rachmaninov's The Bells in the tintinnabulations of the Eighth".