Live in Concert 5.02.14: CBSO Vaughan WIlliams

[DracoM]

And whoever the presenter is, how about this in a programme dedicated to RVW's music: referring to the ground breakng 1906 English Hymnal RVW and Dearmer edited as 'that dusty old book'.

Hmm.

Bet that went down well. Nice own goal, son!

[teamsaint]

The main all-RVW concert at Symphony Hall has just been preceded by a pretty impressive performance of Arnold's 5th symphony by the Birmingham conservatoire orchestra conducted by the CBSO's Michael Seal.

After a slightly low-voltage start (which is the piece as much as the performance) from the 2nd movement onward it packed quite a punch. Almost too much so as a prelude to the 1st half of the RVW programme, though it would be absurdly churlish to be genuinely put out. Even as a fairly prolific concert-goer I've never had chance to hear the Arnold live before.

I can't help but wonder if one of the top pro orchestras will ever programme any of his symphonies again? It was, after all, the CBSO that recorded the 5th with the composer many years ago. Saying that, the Conservatoire orchestra of today sounded at least as good as the CBSO as it was then! Perhaps Arnold will experience a revival eventually to some degree like RVW - looks like a full house tonight.

Back to the RVW - hopefully the crystal clear acoustics of Symphony Hall won't compromise the broadcast of more British music of the first rank as the Barbican apparently did for the LSO's Walton 1 last week...

There is clearly an opportunity for amateur or student ensembles to try some more ambitious programming. Amateur orchestras sometimes do, and student orchestras could do everybody a favour by filling the programming void left by the full time professionals.
Imagine more conservatoire orchestras programming Simpson, Arnold, Rubbra, Cowell, and any number of others. Six o'clock at the London (and other ) venues would make perfect sense, a least for audiences.
perhaps they might even prove the appetite for such fare.
Sounds like the Arnold was great,SB. glad you got to hear it .

[LeMartinPecheur]

And whoever the presenter is, how about this in a programme dedicated to RVW's music: referring to the ground breakng 1906 English Hymnal RVW and Dearmer edited as 'that dusty old book'.

Hmm.

Bet that went down well. Nice own goal, son!

Noticed that one Draco! Difficult to edit a brand new book that comes out with dust on it - another unsuspected skill in RVW?

Did my ears deceive me or was this billed as The Ultimate VW Concert? The very last one ever, sob, sob??

If we construe 'ultimate' as 'optimal', comments please! Odd to miss out on all 9 symphs, but Job is a very acceptable substitute in my book. The first half was, um, more populist but I wouldn't say there's a bad or untypical work in it. So, if this were to be my last RVW concert I would die happy(?). Possibly...

[Nick Armstrong]

Job,what can I say,this awe inspiring masterpiece affects me so deeply I can't explain.

Simply stunning. Mind-altering stuff for me too!

[Barbirollians]

Simply stunning. Mind-altering stuff for me too!

I am afraid the first half put me right off - why could we not have had say the Norfolk Rhapsody No1 and the Concerto Accademico instead of the Tallis and lark yet yet yet again.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well! Wasn't that terrific? A stunning performance of Vaughn Williams' Job that one can scarcely imagine being bettered, relayed via HDs in a balance of marvellous detail and dynamic range...

As with all the orchestras he directs, Manze coaxed great clarity and precision from the CBSO, but allied to warmth, intensity and tenderness so apt to the piece. A wonderfully idiomatic echt-VW sound, from the strings especially. Half a century of Vaughn Williams performances seemed encapsulated in this one as the shades of Vernon Handley and Sir Adrian Boult seem to resonate within the textures of the sound itself.

What a powerfully mysterious piece Job is, suggesting far more than it reveals, leaving you to ponder its evocation of last things long after the final cadence fades.
(And how remarkably sustained those last notes were tonight...)

[Flosshilde]

I never knew that the Lark was originally written for piano & violin. Does anyone know if it has been recorded?

[Flosshilde]

& still there's no news of a Manze VW cycle

[EdgeleyRob]

Well! Wasn't that terrific? A stunning performance of Vaughn Williams' Job that one can scarcely imagine being bettered, relayed via HDs in a balance of marvellous detail and dynamic range...

As with all the orchestras he directs, Manze coaxed great clarity and precision from the CBSO, but allied to warmth, intensity and tenderness so apt to the piece. A wonderfully idiomatic echt-VW sound, from the strings especially. Half a century of Vaughn Williams performances seemed encapsulated in this one as the shades of Vernon Handley and Sir Adrian Boult seem to resonate within the textures of the sound itself.

What a powerfully mysterious piece Job is, suggesting far more than it reveals, leaving you to ponder its evocation of last things long after the final cadence fades.
(And how remarkably sustained those last notes were tonight...)

Manze absolutely nailed it didn't he,this guy clearly is the RVW champion of today.
I am in bits.
Wouldn't you just die without this music ?
Don't know who the presenter was,he was bobbins though.

[Nick Armstrong]

Manze absolutely nailed it didn't he,this guy clearly is the RVW champion of today.
I am in bits.

It was very very good, wasn't it!

Don't know who the presenter was, he was bobbins though.

Simon Hoban. He's got form: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...465#post291465

He does effortlessly manage to make everything he says seem totally banal. Possibly because it is.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I never knew that the Lark was originally written for piano & violin. Does anyone know if it has been recorded?

I have a 1998 Carlton CD by Lydia Mordkovich and Julian Milford, still with its 4.99 price sticker.

Its other contents are the 6 Studies in English Folk Song, the Sonata in A minor, Two Pieces for vln & pf, and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. Haven't checked if it's still available via Marketplace.

Expect by now there's at least another CD's-worth of rediscovered VW works for this combination!

EDIT have checked the Riverpeople. They show the same disc but with an IMP cover, one 5* review, but marked Currently Unavailable

[EdgeleyRob]

I never knew that the Lark was originally written for piano & violin. Does anyone know if it has been recorded?

Written originally for violin and piano in 1914,the orchestral version is from 1920.

It has been recorded

http://www.calvindyck.com/cds.html

Can be heard here

http://www.rvwsociety.com/soundsmps/concertosounds.html

[Frances_iom]

...Simon Hoban. ...

He does effortlessly manage to make everything he says seem totally banal. Possibly because it is.

if you didn't know before you do now don'y you know - maybe if he applied the bit between the ears before moving his jaw it may come over better on the radio - don't you know.

[Simon B]

It was very very good, wasn't it!

Yes. Spacious, mysterious and dramatic by turns. No composer does that "gazing off into the unknowable infinite" (other cliches and Whitmanisms are available) quite like RVW. Those moments were captured perfectly this evening as in RVW 5 at the Proms a few years ago.

With reference to the oh-no-not-that-chuffing-lark-again aspect, well I thought it was intelligent programming myself. Without the Lark and the Tallis Fantastia, the CBSO would now almost certainly have many £k less in the bank account, and far fewer people would have heard a blistering performance of Job, some of whom must surely have thus discovered that RVW wasn't primarily a purveyor of miniatures.

[jayne lee wilson]

The main all-RVW concert at Symphony Hall has just been preceded by a pretty impressive performance of Arnold's 5th symphony by the Birmingham conservatoire orchestra conducted by the CBSO's Michael Seal.

After a slightly low-voltage start (which is the piece as much as the performance) from the 2nd movement onward it packed quite a punch. Almost too much so as a prelude to the 1st half of the RVW programme, though it would be absurdly churlish to be genuinely put out. Even as a fairly prolific concert-goer I've never had chance to hear the Arnold live before.

I can't help but wonder if one of the top pro orchestras will ever programme any of his symphonies again? It was, after all, the CBSO that recorded the 5th with the composer many years ago. Saying that, the Conservatoire orchestra of today sounded at least as good as the CBSO as it was then! Perhaps Arnold will experience a revival eventually to some degree like RVW - looks like a full house tonight.

Back to the RVW - hopefully the crystal clear acoustics of Symphony Hall won't compromise the broadcast of more British music of the first rank as the Barbican apparently did for the LSO's Walton 1 last week...

Simon B - did you not hear the Elgar/Britten/ Maxwell Davies 10th Symphony concert on Sunday? THAT was the same performers as per Walton 1, again live from the Barbican, and was technically and musically stunning from first note to last, sonically an audiophile treat in broadcast terms (q.v. thread). (As I suggested, that Walton 1 was something of an exception). As per my post no.21 above, the sound from Symphony Hall tonight was very good indeed - as it nearly always is on the HDs AAC stream nowadays. (Just wish there were more and better concerts, the next really good one is next Wednesday, RPO/Dutoit in Poulenc and Ravel).