# Ralph Vaughan Williams 150th



## Abdel ove Allhan (Jun 19, 2014)

It’s a little disappointing that there doesn’t seem to be any recognition of RVW’s 150th B Day on this forum. Apologies if I’m wrong. Have been revisiting his Piano Concerto in C lately. I was previously familiar with the older 2 piano version which seemed a little unwieldy in that arrangement but now I have the Ashley Wass performance with the Liverpool Phil. and have thoroughly reignited my passion for RVW's masterpiece. Apparently Bartok loved the Toccata1st movement. It is suitably bravura and a bold sonic barrage that would have the hipsters clutching their pork pie hats. The second movement is sumptuously romantic night music with quietly sweeping piano arpeggios that leads to an even more beautiful and transcendent melody that would melt a dodecaphonists face. The Fuga Chromatica con Finale Alla Tedesco is a romp. Inversions, retrogrades, canons abound in this free form but still tonal and "fugal-y" relevant fugue form. The Finale alla tedesco carries over the Fuga theme and developes it further into a demonic waltz/cadenza and after a lovely recapitulation of the Night/Transcendant music the orchestra and piano swell to a full and radiant mf C chord and evaporate into the cool evening.
HBD, RVW,


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've been listening to his symphonies in the Adrian Boult box this week.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Current Listening Vol VIII [2022]


Chopin 2 Again Klemperer in Chopin, this time with the Brazilian hot chick.




www.talkclassical.com




Post 25522 😇


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

What's really unfortunate is that no American orchestras are doing a RVW retrospective or anything. I can't even find anyone doing any of the symphonies this year. Maybe audiences won't support it, I don't know.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Ralph Vaughan Williams


A composer who truly exalts the beauty of the earth. The magnificence of the city (A London Symphony) to the vast inspiration of ancient landscapes (Symphony No. 3 'Pastoral', Symphony No. 5) Anyone who thinks Elgar is the best English composer obviously hasn't heard any Vaughan-Williams - The...




www.talkclassical.com


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Anyone who thinks that the 3rd exalts "the vast inspiration of ancient landscapes" doesn't know what the symphony is really about.


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

I've never been able to get into RVW music, except for his Thomas Tallis Fantasia. I prefer Britten and Elgar.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

Agree with Becca on the 3rd -- anyway, on BBC Radio 3 they can hardly stop talking about him. And as I speak, they're playing a new release of the 6th symphony as "Record of the Week". I've never found he's been unduly neglected in his home country at any rate. As a high percentage of posters on this forum are Americans, there's no reason why they or others should make a particular song and dance about him. Having said that, he regularly seems to appear in Talk Classical lists of most loved symphonists so his appeal does seem quite widespread.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

mbhaub said:


> What's really unfortunate is that no American orchestras are doing a RVW retrospective or anything. I can't even find anyone doing any of the symphonies this year. Maybe audiences won't support it, I don't know.


How can audiences support something they can't experience? I can't imagine huge objections to No.5, Fantasia, or The Lark Ascending. You're in the business so you know better than most the kind of people that make these decisions. If listeners are offended by VW's music I'd say there's not much hope for a flourishing live music scene.


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## Abdel ove Allhan (Jun 19, 2014)

dko22 said:


> Agree with Becca on the 3rd -- anyway, on BBC Radio 3 they can hardly stop talking about him. And as I speak, they're playing a new release of the 6th symphony as "Record of the Week". I've never found he's been unduly neglected in his home country at any rate. As a high percentage of posters on this forum are Americans, there's no reason why they or others should make a particular song and dance about him. Having said that, he regularly seems to appear in Talk Classical lists of most loved symphonists so his appeal does seem quite widespread.


Well it's nice to know the Brits have a restored appreciation for their greatest native composer. I've found that North American tastes run in the splashy, noisy, shiny toy with loud endings vein of mostly European continent and Imperial Russian composers (Shostakovich being the Trotskyite exception, ironically). Apparently RVW's music is in general too introspective to be hooted and hollered at by most of us Yanks.


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## Abdel ove Allhan (Jun 19, 2014)

starthrower said:


> I've been listening to his symphonies in the Adrian Boult box this week.


I heartily recommend any and all Barbirolli recordings of RVW especially the 5th and the Tallis Fantasia. I have also heard good things about the Andrew Manze series.


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## John O (Jan 16, 2021)

Subutai said:


> I've never been able to get into RVW music, except for his Thomas Tallis Fantasia. I prefer Britten and Elgar.


Try Tippett's Corelli Fantasia, if you haven't heard it.


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## Abdel ove Allhan (Jun 19, 2014)

John O said:


> Try Tippett's Corelli Fantasia, if you haven't heard it.


The Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli is a brilliant work.


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## RandallPeterListens (Feb 9, 2012)

Listeners unfamiliar with Vaughan Williams should try the recording of Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony with Andre Previn conducting. He recorded this twice, first with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, later with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Can't remember which CD I have, off the bat (I think the RPO one), but it's an absolute beauty.


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