Rozhdestvensky's live Vaughan Williams Cycle

[Bryn]

Not British, but he also did a mean Ives 4 with the Chicago band.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Gennady Rozhdestvensky,British music champion,who'da thought.

May I add to the works mentioned earlier Tavener's Akhmatova Requiem? GR's prom performance 27/8/81 was once available on Carlton.

I suppose it could be said that 'Akhmatova' explains the attraction without resort to 'British music', but I'm sure that would be overly cynical...

[jayne lee wilson]

...returning once again to the Vaughan Williams' 4th, I'm more convinced than ever of the greatness and originality of this very radical interpretation. No wonder it has found criticism in some reviews - it does take some getting used to. But just listen to the Scherzo, how Rozh so carefully judges stresses against note-values, and the shaping and dynamics within each phrase; all at a moderate tempo with that unique rhythmical lift, that sheer aliveness, that seems such a feature of these performances; only a great partnership playing at their peak can achieve such things.
Then, into the finale, the swaggering march is more relaxed - but more swinging than usual, a rather jaunty strut; after a bated-breath, very apprehensive, quiet string interlude it returns with increasing weight and intensity leading up to the coda.
Here, the sense of rhythms floating dangerously free, the razorcut counterpoints against blurred bar-lines put me in mind of Shostakovich's almost exactly contemporaneous 4th Symphony, with a nightmarish quality I've never heard in the VW before. It wouldn't surprise me if Rozh was consciously drawing the comparison - perhaps with the poignancy of the DSCH's bottom-drawer destiny in mind.

The 8th is equally revelatory, but here it's the Prokofiev of the 3rd and 4th Symphonies that come to mind - the metallic brilliance and quirky wit of the scherzo and toccata; and the intense, lyrical warmth of expression in the cavatina. I've always had trouble connecting with No.8 - finally through this performance I think I'm finding a way in.

After these experiences and judging from others' comments on the works I haven't yet heard, this set - this live, unedited event - seems to me a great achievement, far more than a "supplementary" cycle to the English Classics from the past...

(Incidentally - does anyone know the significance of the "16+" printed on the back of the box in red, and on each CD's red mini-LP (complete with actual grooves!) Melodiya label in black? I can't think what it might mean...)

[BBMmk2]

Gosh, JLW, you have excelled yourself in your illuminating ways of usage of such colourful descriptions of performing music with studio recordings. Very exuberant and always enjoyable to read. I wish Radio 3 would employ you in a BaL one day. It be quite intoxicating listening!!

GR in RVW, with all these different approaches to his music, other than well trodden paths by the exponents that have gone before, is always good when an overseas conductor 'has a go' at them and finds new ways and interpretations.

[cloughie]

16+[/B]" printed on the back of the box in red, and on each CD's red mini-LP (complete with actual grooves!) Melodiya label in black? I can't think what it might mean...)

Perhaps it is unsuitable for juveniles and those of a nervous disposition brought up on the (both excellent) Boult cycles - actually Jayne your continuing reviews attract more and more - what's the 'London' like? I wonder if he did 'Job' also!

[visualnickmos]

Perhaps it is unsuitable for juveniles and those of a nervous disposition brought up on the (both excellent) Boult cycles - actually Jayne your continuing reviews attract more and more - what's the 'London' like? I wonder if he did 'Job' also!

I recently listened to this on Spotify. Good, certainly, but it didn't quite have the sense of almost 'brooding' that say, Boult lends it. Slightly lacking the inner depth.

[EdgeleyRob]

I recently listened to this on Spotify. Good, certainly, but it didn't quite have the sense of almost 'brooding' that say, Boult lends it. Slightly lacking the inner depth.

Yes a good performance of No 2.

I thought the march theme in the finale seemed a little bit fast.
The movement as a whole lasts 11:49 in this performance.
A very quick,but not in depth,comparison with others,Haitink and Davis are over 14 minutes but Boult 12:01 and 12:28,so closer to Boult and not as fast as it seemed.
Still,an impressive cycle so far (I've listened to 2,6 and 9).

[HighlandDougie]

(Incidentally - does anyone know the significance of the "16+" printed on the back of the box in red, and on each CD's red mini-LP (complete with actual grooves!) Melodiya label in black? I can't think what it might mean...)

Hmm, I sat at my desk yesterday while listening to the 8th and 9th pondering exactly the same question. I've tried the somewhat gnomic melodiya.su website but there appears to be nothing on it about 16+. My guess is that it refers to the recordings being mastered/remastered at least at 16/44 quality or, more plausibly, at more than 16 as a similar label appears on some other recent-ish Melodiya issues but not on the likes of Rozhdestvensky's Prokofiev symphonies or Svetlanov's Liadov, which are the other Melodiya CDs I have to hand. But I may well be talking nonsense. Wholly agree with the very positive comments about the 8th and 9th.

[Bryn]

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the 16+ alludes to the recordings having been dithered and/or noise shaped from a higher quantization than 16 bit.

[EdgeleyRob]

...returning once again to the Vaughan Williams' 4th, I'm more convinced than ever of the greatness and originality of this very radical interpretation. No wonder it has found criticism in some reviews - it does take some getting used to. But just listen to the Scherzo, how Rozh so carefully judges stresses against note-values, and the shaping and dynamics within each phrase; all at a moderate tempo with that unique rhythmical lift, that sheer aliveness, that seems such a feature of these performances; only a great partnership playing at their peak can achieve such things.
Then, into the finale, the swaggering march is more relaxed - but more swinging than usual, a rather jaunty strut; after a bated-breath, very apprehensive, quiet string interlude it returns with increasing weight and intensity leading up to the coda.
Here, the sense of rhythms floating dangerously free, the razorcut counterpoints against blurred bar-lines put me in mind of Shostakovich's almost exactly contemporaneous 4th Symphony, with a nightmarish quality I've never heard in the VW before. It wouldn't surprise me if Rozh was consciously drawing the comparison - perhaps with the poignancy of the DSCH's bottom-drawer destiny in mind.

The 8th is equally revelatory, but here it's the Prokofiev of the 3rd and 4th Symphonies that come to mind - the metallic brilliance and quirky wit of the scherzo and toccata; and the intense, lyrical warmth of expression in the cavatina. I've always had trouble connecting with No.8 - finally through this performance I think I'm finding a way in.

After these experiences and judging from others' comments on the works I haven't yet heard, this set - this live, unedited event - seems to me a great achievement, far more than a "supplementary" cycle to the English Classics from the past...

(Incidentally - does anyone know the significance of the "16+" printed on the back of the box in red, and on each CD's red mini-LP (complete with actual grooves!) Melodiya label in black? I can't think what it might mean...)

Having listened to the 8th this evening I reckon you've summed it up brilliantly.
I've never had any trouble connecting with this work mind.

[EdgeleyRob]

...returning once again to the Vaughan Williams' 4th, I'm more convinced than ever of the greatness and originality of this very radical interpretation. No wonder it has found criticism in some reviews - it does take some getting used to. But just listen to the Scherzo, how Rozh so carefully judges stresses against note-values, and the shaping and dynamics within each phrase; all at a moderate tempo with that unique rhythmical lift, that sheer aliveness, that seems such a feature of these performances; only a great partnership playing at their peak can achieve such things.
Then, into the finale, the swaggering march is more relaxed - but more swinging than usual, a rather jaunty strut; after a bated-breath, very apprehensive, quiet string interlude it returns with increasing weight and intensity leading up to the coda.
Here, the sense of rhythms floating dangerously free, the razorcut counterpoints against blurred bar-lines put me in mind of Shostakovich's almost exactly contemporaneous 4th Symphony, with a nightmarish quality I've never heard in the VW before. It wouldn't surprise me if Rozh was consciously drawing the comparison - perhaps with the poignancy of the DSCH's bottom-drawer destiny in mind.

The 8th is equally revelatory, but here it's the Prokofiev of the 3rd and 4th Symphonies that come to mind - the metallic brilliance and quirky wit of the scherzo and toccata; and the intense, lyrical warmth of expression in the cavatina. I've always had trouble connecting with No.8 - finally through this performance I think I'm finding a way in.

After these experiences and judging from others' comments on the works I haven't yet heard, this set - this live, unedited event - seems to me a great achievement, far more than a "supplementary" cycle to the English Classics from the past...

(Incidentally - does anyone know the significance of the "16+" printed on the back of the box in red, and on each CD's red mini-LP (complete with actual grooves!) Melodiya label in black? I can't think what it might mean...)

Not sure about No 4 Jayne.
Doesn't really take off,can't put my finger on what the reason is.
Is it a bit careful and deliberate,or a bit unfair to compare to the searing Previn and RVW himself.

[jayne lee wilson]

My first impulse, Edge, was to say - not so much unfair as... perhaps irrelevant? In the sense that, measuring or judging a very radical interpretation against True Classics from the recorded past may lead us away from, rather than toward, an understanding of it... of what it has to tell us about a piece. "I don't know whether I like it, but it's what the conductor meant" might be a good start...

Oddly enough I tend not to carry a model or models of interpretation in my head even of familiar works, so I instinctively try to take on a new reading on its own terms, before thinking comparatively. Even then, I find very different approaches usually stimulate closer listening, rather than pushing me away. Hence my fascination for Venzago's Bruckner, which has been treated quite abusively in some places! Rob Cowan understood what Venzago was about, so it was disappointing that Philip Clark reviewed the last 2 issues for Gramophone, as he, sadly, seemed to judge it "against" his own (and others') earlier preferences, the musical equivalent of idees recus .

With Rozh's VW, RC was very excited and positive about what No.4 has, uniquely, to offer; John Quinn on MusicWeb was very critical - but for almost exactly the same reasons! We all evidently heard the same things...
... it's a personal, perhaps controversial view, but I sometimes feel that the rich, wide and deep catalogue of Classical Recordings can hold our perception to ransom, freeze or crystallize our responses...

It seems to me only healthy, within a tradition of Classical recording or performance, for listeners to be discomfited, even shocked, by new** approaches to such performances - most especially of the "established" and familiar...

(**sometimes not-so-new, eg Andreae's Bruckner...)

[EdgeleyRob]

Super post as always Jayne,thank you.
You are right of course,unfair AND irrelevant to compare,it's just that the very best RVW performances are etched in my mind forever.
This a good 4th,just wish it was taken a little faster and with more daring perhaps.
Have you listened to No 7 yet?,this is staggering IMV,the chilling and spooky 'landscape' movement is nigh on perfect,not even spoiled by the wrong notes in the organ part.
Set now ordered.

[Ferretfancy]

I listened to the Pastoral this morning, and was very haunted by it. OK, there are a few moments in the scherzo where it;s perhaps a bit over emphatic, but it's really extraordinary the way that the Russian orchestra gets inside the idiom. Of all the RVW symphonies this is the one that paints landscapes in the mind, and this succeeds so well.

[BBMmk2]

I listened to the Pastoral this morning, and was very haunted by it. OK, there are a few moments in the scherzo where it;s perhaps a bit over emphatic, but it's really extraordinary the way that the Russian orchestra gets inside the idiom. Of all the RVW symphonies this is the one that paints landscapes in the mind, and this succeeds so well.

I wonder if they had been instructed by GR, to get some listening in to RVWs music, or would it be their sheer musicality that made them aware of what the composer had to say?