# Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis



## marlow (11 mo ago)

One of the most original and most stunning works which put RVW on the map. Certainly one I would want with me on a desert island. Is it as much a favourite here? What are your favoured recordings?


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Other than the obvious suggestion of the famous Barbirolli/Sinfonia of London ...


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

A great work and a particular favorite of mine. Other favorites are The Lark Ascending and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. Somehow his symphonies have never entirely clicked with me.

My favorite recordings are by the English Symphony Orchestra and William Boughton (part of a box of British music called "The Spirit of England"), and another by the New Queen's Hall Orchestra and Barry Wordsworth. The RLPO with Manze have also recorded a fine recording of the composition. The entire "The Spirit of England" box by Boughton and the English SO is a particular favorite of mine and I love all 4 discs in it. Of course it covers more material than just the RVW Fantasia.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Funnily enough, on 9 April we are going to play this piece with another youth orchestra around our area and the first time I ever heard it was by playing it myself which is my absolute favourite way of discovering music, it just adds another layer when you listen to it at home. I really couldn’t recommend any recordings since I haven’t listened to this piece at home yet


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

(Parker's verse for which Tallis composed the tune used by Vaughan Williams)


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

I love this piece and there are many fine performances, but, for me, the one to beat is Constantin Silvestri's recording on EMI with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.


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## methuselah (10 mo ago)

Certainly one of the best and most memorable pieces out there. Also waiting to see recommendations on recordings.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Andre Previn told story of how he conducted it with the Vienna Philarmonic who had never played it before. It was new to them. Afterwards the players asked if this guy Vaughan Williams had written anything else and if Tallis was a contemporary of his! Previn did record it with the RPO


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Still one of the finest renderings


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

I only have Hallé/Elder - which I like, fortunately.

Here's a decent live version by the Philharmonia with John Wilson (covid-style)


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I've quoted this in the past.

In September, Hunter would invite her to accompany him to Gloucester Cathedral, where as part of that year's Three Choirs Festival, a new work by Ralph Vaughan Williams would be having its first performance. Ruperta, who despised church music, must have seen some irresistible opening for idle mischief, because she went along wearing a sportive toilette more appropriate to Brighton, with a hat she had always found particularly loathsome but kept handy for occasions just such as this. The composer was conducting two string orchestras set like cantores and decani facing each other across the chancel, with a string quartet between them. The moment Vaughan Williams raised his baton, even before the first notes, something happened to Ruperta. As Phrygian resonances swept the great nave, doubled strings sang back and forth, and nine-part harmonies occupied the bones and blood vessels of those in attendance, very slowly Ruperta began to levitate, nothing vulgar, simply a tactful and stately ascent about halfway to the vaulting, where, tears running without interruption down her face, she floated in the autumnal light above the heads of the audience for the duration of the piece. At the last long diminuendo, she returned calmly to earth and reoccupied herself, never again to pursue her old career of determined pest. She and Hunter, who was vaguely aware that something momentous had befallen her, walked in silence out along the Severn, and it was hours before she could trust herself to speak. "You must never, never forgive me, Hunter," she whispered. "I can never claim forgiveness from anyone. Somehow, I alone, for every single wrong act in my life, must find a right one to balance it. I may not have that much time left."

From _Against the Day_ by Thomas Pynchon


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## AaronSF (Sep 5, 2021)

I have the Haitink boxed set of VW symphonies and other orchestral pieces. I think he's very good. See this discussion at TC from 2017: Haitink's Vaughan Williams: a question


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Maybe of interest, the Tallis work RVW based this on


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Three American Fantasies

























All superb!


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I thought I had heard some fine recordings of VW's Tallis Fantasia, and probably had, then a few years ago Mrs Pat and I heard it played by a college orchestra in a cathedral, with the parts set out as VW intended. There was the occasional smeared note and the 4tet cellist had a nightmare start, but as that familiar music soared around the great building, blending and drifting, I realised that a recording, however skilled, can never replace the live performance of such a work. It was transformative. Apparently I sat rock-still through the whole piece, staring straight ahead, with my mouth open. A new gargoyle for the cathedral.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Another classic in my library


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

Did I miss any post which cites the performance of the solo violinist? I may be wrong, but where _The Lark Ascending _has attracted high profile soloists, _Tallis _has seemed to be only about the ensemble.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Forster said:


> Did I miss any post which cites the performance of the solo violinist? I may be wrong, but where _The Lark Ascending _has attracted high profile soloists, _Tallis _has seemed to be only about the ensemble.


It uses a string quartet not a soloist.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

marlow said:


> It uses a string quartet not a soloist.


Are you saying my ears deceive me? That there is no point at which a single instrument leads the way?

Here's an article which might explain the deceit:

https://www.classical-music.com/fea...lliamss-fantasia-on-a-theme-of-thomas-tallis/

It points out that in a performance to be avoided, _"__the solo viola's exquisite duet with the solo violin unconvincingly recessed (it's counterpoint, not merely accompaniment)."_

This suggests that in some recordings, the quartet sounds more like a quiet accompaniment to the violinist.

It does also say that _"the string quartet's violin and viola solos are each exceptional"_


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

You and Marlow are both right Forster. There is indeed a string 4tet as part of the antiphonal scoring and yes there are solos for the 4tet players too. The term solo violinist with its concerto-like implication is perhaps misleading.


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