BaL 10.03.12 Vaughan Williams' Symphony no. 4 in F minor

[amateur51]

Available here at $8.99 plus p&p

http://www.bso.org/Merchandise/Detail/38114

[HighlandDougie]

The Berglund arrived in the post today (in its 2 disc incarnation c/w his 6th, Gibson's 5th, the Silvestri Tallis Fantasia etc - a snip at £7.99). Having been listening earlier to Boult (remastered mono Decca recording) and Daniel, I think Piers Burton-Page has made a very good recommendation. The Berglund is a really fine performance: urgent without seeming rushed, very well played by the RPO and with EMI sound in its last great pre-digital flowering. I must, though, download the Davis (many thanks for the link, Am 51) as his V-W is usually first-rate (the Bavarian RSO 6th, for instance).

[HighlandDougie]

Davis duly downloaded for $4.21 from the BSO site (you need to read their instructions as it's otherwise not obvious that you should right-click on the 'download' link). Sounds pretty good, even if it is MP3. Thrilling first movement. Lucky my neighbours aren't around as they would be wondering why I'm on my fourth listening of RVW 4 today.

[Ferretfancy]

HighlandDougie,

My copy also arrived today, and I decided to wait for a while before listening to the 5th, but listened to Berglund in No. 6 with the Bournemouth SO in the same set. I'd be interested to hear what you think of it, as I find it a rather odd performance, very deliberate at the beginning and a bit ramshackle in the scherzo. It's not helped by a spacious but rather recessed recording, but see what you think. I'm looking forward to Gibson in No. 5, which I've never heard, as you say, a great bargain.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There's no question that the latter slows slightly for the canons at the start of the development (Fig.9 to Fig. 10 in the score) then speeds up again.

Yes, he does! (I've just played the performance, following it with the score): and he also pulls back at the first statement of the head motif of the Movement (bars 1 - 4 and in the "Recap". But he also keeps the momentum ever onwards in the last pages, which is probably what PBP referred to.

(Handley's final THUMP! is much heavier than Berglund's - but both endings are in keeping with what their respective conductors hear as important in this magnificent score. I wouldn't want to be without either.)

[euthynicus]

What about Barbirolli? I find him completely thrilling in this symphony.

[Pabmusic]

What about Barbirolli? I find him completely thrilling in this symphony.

What recording do you mean? There was none by Barbirolli in the review, and I don't think I've heard one either.

[rauschwerk]

Yes, he does! (I've just played the performance, following it with the score): and he also pulls back at the first statement of the head motif of the Movement (bars 1 - 4 and in the "Recap". But he also keeps the momentum ever onwards in the last pages, which is probably what PBP referred to.

Yes, and indeed (this will sound like fearful nit-picking) he rushes the last couple of bars - the pause before the final chord is by no means equal in length to six of the chords which precede it. Whether this is a deliberate decision or a result of over-excitement I'm not sure. It's a pity but not a disaster and for me it doesn't undo the effect of the preceding 40 minutes. I shall still go ahead and buy.

[HighlandDougie]

See

http://www.musicpreserved.org.uk/mplive.php?product_id=1

No idea what it's like but I'm keen to hear it

[Pabmusic]

See

http://www.musicpreserved.org.uk/mplive.php?product_id=1

No idea what it's like but I'm keen to hear it

Well! That looks interesting, although I worry slightly at the blurb that says it was composed in 1943!

[BBMmk2]

We do have another thread about this!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I shall still go ahead and buy.

- I think Berglund's is a performance all lovers of the work should have access to. The only "serious" quibble I have with it is at the start of the Second Movement: the 'cello/Bass pizzicati are marked p ma pesante (to contrast with the p cantabile of the violin melody): they're far too quiet (barely audible) in this recording.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

We do have another thread about this!!

Thank you. I've merged them.

[euthynicus]

No idea what it's like but I'm keen to hear it

Slower than many - I don't have a score, so can't refer to MMs - but incredibly gutsy and terror-struck in the outer movements. Very much in the mould of Barbirolli's recording of that other great F minor Fourth symphony, by Tchaikovsky. Tension accumulated more through pressure than expulsion of energy.

Wiki's list of symphonies in F minor, which I just consulted on a whim, opens any number of interesting doors. Weigl's Fourth, anyone? Meredith Wilson's First?

[Pabmusic]

...Meredith Wilson's First?

It needs an orchestra with 76 trombones.