Vaughan Williams: The symphonies

[Pabmusic]

I know what you mean by matching any mood Pab.
I've mentioned before I can't' go for more than 3 or 4 days without listening to Vaughan Williams.
I find it difficult to put into words but his music is almost like a drug that is essential to my well-being,to the point where it's comparable to withdrawal symptoms if I go without,no other composer has such a profound effect on me.

Is this normal or am I a little bit mad ?
Anyone else affected so extremely by their favourite music ?.

Well, I'm certainly mad, if that's what madness depends on!

[Roehre]

.....I find it difficult to put into words but his music is almost like a drug that is essential to my well-being,to the point where it's comparable to withdrawal symptoms if I go without,no other composer has such a profound effect on me.

Is this normal or am I a little bit mad ?
Anyone else affected so extremely by their favourite music ?.

ER: In The Eternal Breakfast Debate you'll possibly find posting #1810 of interest:

suffolkcoastal Over exposure to composer & works is something that can certainly result in a lessening of interest in them, at least for me. That is why I try to avoid listening to too much R3 these days,(....)
I'm careful not to play even my favourite works too often, 5 or 6 times a year is enough. There is so much to hear and enjoy. (....)

Roehre I couldn't have written that better myself.
But for me even 5 or 6 times a year is too much.
Twice or thrice is for me more than enough for works which I know well already.
An unknown work is listenend to a couple of times in a very short time, e.g. 4-6 times within 2 or 3 days. After that, it can take years before re-visiting the work again.

I have got the experience that listening to (a very big trunk of) the whole output of a composer opens new perspectives and views. For me in that respect there are two types of composers: 1. the composers whose works cause a kind of addiction (for me: Beethoven, Bach, Wagner, Sibelius, Webern, Berg, Vaughan williams) with "withdrawel symptoms" and 2. those who don't (Chopin, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Bruckner, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Walton).
Why? Who knows?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is this normal

Yes.

or am I a little bit mad?

Yes. It's that touch of madness that keeps us sane - just look at all the people who don't have it: psychopaths the lot of 'em!

Anyone else affected so extremely by their favourite music ?.

Absolutely - no individual composer in my case, but I need a daily and intense "fix" of Music if I'm to cope with the weekly routine. (Cleaned up the last word there!)

[EdgeleyRob]

Thanks Pab,Roehre and ferny for your reassurance.

[Beef Oven]

I know what you mean by matching any mood Pab.
I've mentioned before I can't' go for more than 3 or 4 days without listening to Vaughan Williams.
I find it difficult to put into words but his music is almost like a drug that is essential to my well-being,to the point where it's comparable to withdrawal symptoms if I go without,no other composer has such a profound effect on me.

Is this normal or am I a little bit mad ?
Anyone else affected so extremely by their favourite music ?.

I get this with Wagner. I cannot go beyond 7 days without listening to something of him. But, I am not a Wagner fanatic and I am certainly not an expert; and actually, although I don't do it consciously, I listen to Bruckner ever single day. Weird.

[Barbirollians]

I am very pleased to own both the Haitink and Handley

Barbirolliis unmatched in his first recordings of 2 and 5 and his 8th . His Antarctica is pretty marvellous too.

Previn's 5 is superb .Elder's No 2 a delight.

Boult's 1950s Sea Symphony and very early No 6 I love - and RVW's own No 4 is miles in front of any other .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I agree wholeheartedly, Barbi - and I'm glad you mentioned Elder: I have had great problems with this conductor's work in the past and when an excerpt from his London was played on Seedy Review I was determined to find the usual faults in his interpretation. Instead, I was absolutely transfixed by the beauty of the playing and the excellence of the conducting. Definitely one to include in the Pantheon!

[richardfinegold]

I know what you mean by matching any mood Pab.
I've mentioned before I can't' go for more than 3 or 4 days without listening to Vaughan Williams.
I find it difficult to put into words but his music is almost like a drug that is essential to my well-being,to the point where it's comparable to withdrawal symptoms if I go without,no other composer has such a profound effect on me.

Is this normal or am I a little bit mad ?


Anyone else affected so extremely by their favourite music ?.

You are mad for Vaughn Williams and that is a good thing. I can't go for more than afew days without Beethoven myself.

[BBMmk2]

It looks to me as though i gopiong to be purchasing a who;le of of RVW Symphonic recordings!

[Nick Armstrong]

i gopiong to be purchasing a who;le of of

[Beef Oven]

I know what you mean by matching any mood Pab.

I am concerned that I am mainly in symph#4 mood with brief interludes of #7 and bits of #3 when I'm asleep
.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It looks to me as though i gopiong to be purchasing a who;le of of RVW Symphonic recordings!

... and "RVW" was a typo for "Nielsen"!

[BBMmk2]

RVWs later symphonies, nos7(Sinf Antartica) 8 and 9, havnt been mentioned very ,uch. I would like to know more what people think of these. of which the 7th is my favourite. I seem to be diofferent to yoiu guys that do not seem keen on Sir Andrew Davis interpreter. But to me and a friend of mine, we seem to thinbk he is the bees knees here. I have heard Boult, Haitink and Previn(in no.4), and love these recordings, but wioth the later symphonies, i dont think we have discussed much here!?!?

[cloughie]

RVWs later symphonies, nos7(Sinf Antartica) 8 and 9, havnt been mentioned very ,uch. I would like to know more what people think of these. of which the 7th is my favourite. I seem to be diofferent to yoiu guys that do not seem keen on Sir Andrew Davis interpreter. But to me and a friend of mine, we seem to thinbk he is the bees knees here. I have heard Boult, Haitink and Previn(in no.4), and love these recordings, but wioth the later symphonies, i dont think we have discussed much here!?!?

BBM - I own up to being a largely 2-6 plus Job enthusiast - maybe I should have a serious listen to the other 4!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Sinfonia antartica was the first Symphony by RVW that I ever heard - I was about 14 at the time, and was instantly hooked by its chilly, strange harmonic/melodic sound. I've been a fan ever since, and was most put out to read that most critics didn't value it much at the time. The early Boult was the recording I first heard (with Ralph Richardson reading the texts) but Haitink is my current favourite recording: I was deeply impressed that he began his RVW cycle with this work (indeed, for what seemed like a long time it was the only RVW he recorded) - as if he was gently pointing out to the critics that one was what they sat on, the other was what they bent to clean their teeth.

The Ninth is also a favourite - the old man still venturing into new ways of writing; not farewell, but fare forward! Handley for me here but Previn, Haitink and Davis at the Proms are equally astonishing in their different ways.

The Eighth is a stumbling block for me: I've never got into the sound world - impressive as I find many individual moments, it doesn't hang together for me. YET!

I seem to be diofferent to yoiu guys that do not seem keen on Sir Andrew Davis interpreter. But to me and a friend of mine, we seem to thinbk he is the bees knees here.

Should be perfect in the Incidental Music for The Wasps!