A London Symphony - 100th anniversary

[maestro267]

Thursday 27th March marks 100 years since the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony. If you have the original version, recorded by Richard Hickox on Chandos, it would be a good opportunity to give it a spin.

[Pabmusic]

Thursday 27th March marks 100 years since the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony. If you have the original version, recorded by Richard Hickox on Chandos, it would be a good opportunity to give it a spin.

A timely reminder. Thank you.

[EdgeleyRob]

Thursday 27th March marks 100 years since the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony. If you have the original version, recorded by Richard Hickox on Chandos, it would be a good opportunity to give it a spin.

Which is exactly what I did earlier,good shout maestro !

[AjAjAjH]

A breath of fresh air and my favoured version,

(Looking forward to the Symphony No.1 - 'The Sea Symphony' - at the Bridgewater Hall with The Halle on Saturday evening.}

[LeMartinPecheur]

One day early admittedly but I've just celebrated by ordering a moderately cheapo (£8.95) copy of the rather left-field version by the Rochester Phil under David Seaman which gets very good reviews on Amazon for both recording and interpretation.

Not an altogether convincing excuse for adding to my Barbirolli, 2 x Boult, Haitink, Handley, Hickox, Norrington, Previn and Wood but hey, I do believe I'm getting to like this work

[Barbirollians]

LMP I would recommend the Elder on the Halle's own label. A lovely , characterful performance .

[LeMartinPecheur]

LMP I would recommend the Elder on the Halle's own label. A lovely , characterful performance .

Thanks barbirollians. Tempting though it is to 'Do an Eine Alpensinfonie' and buy every single recording of this wonderful work, I'm afraid I must restrain myself At least for the moment...

[Petrushka]

I'm a sucker for anniversaries of first performances but this one had completely passed me by. 1914 seems to be a thin year musically but wonder if there are any other first performance anniversaries worth mentioning from that momentous year.

I haven't got the Hickox version so I'll have to cheat with Boult. I did hear the original version at the Proms in 2005 but never bought the disc.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

LMP I would recommend the Elder on the Halle's own label. A lovely , characterful performance .

I agree. Having experienced a couple of truly appalling concerts conducted by Elder in the '80s (one of them the only occasion when I've left a concert at the interval) I had always avoided his work. Then, when this London Symphony first appeared, I heard the second Movement on CD Review and was utterly captivated. One of the very best recordings of the work.


(His Apostles is pretty damn fine, too!)

[LeMartinPecheur]

I'm a sucker for anniversaries of first performances but this one had completely passed me by. 1914 seems to be a thin year musically but wonder if there are any other first performance anniversaries worth mentioning from that momentous year.

1814 yields Gretchen am Spinnrade, 1914 Stanford Irish Rhapsody No 1, Elgar Sospiri & Carillon, Debussy Berceuse heroique, Delius North Country Sketches, Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten, Nielsen Serenata in Vano, Sibelius 5th Symphony & Oceanides, Busoni Arlecchino, Holst The Planets, Ravel 2 Hebrew songs, Bridge Summer, Bartok The Wooden Prince & 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Kodaly Sonata for violin and cello, Stravinsky Le Rossignol, Bax Piano Quintet, Webern 3 Little Pieces for cello and piano, Prokofiev 1st Vln Concerto, The Ugly Duckling, & Scythian Suite.

Not too bad a year then??

[Bryn]

Thursday 27th March marks 100 years since the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony. If you have the original version, recorded by Richard Hickox on Chandos, it would be a good opportunity to give it a spin.

I do, and I will. I might also give the revised version (Nixa Hallé/Barbirolli) a spin too though.

[richardfinegold]

[/I]Not too bad a year then??

Except for a little unfortunate mishap in Sarajevo, I guess that 1914 wasn't a bad year.

[richardfinegold]

Thursday 27th March marks 100 years since the first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony. If you have the original version, recorded by Richard Hickox on Chandos, it would be a good opportunity to give it a spin.

The original version is an interesting variant, but I think we should always respect the composers final wishes. Love the Barbirolli and Boult recordings.

[Pabmusic]

I do, and I will. I might also give the revised version (Nixa Hallé/Barbirolli) a spin too though.

There is also the 1920 version, which exists in two recordings, an acoustic one with Dan Godfrey and the LSO, and and electronic one with Eugene Goossens and the Chicago SO. It's my favourite version - RVW cleared up some of the longuers from the first version but was not as savagely drastic as he was in the 1933 version. Both recordings have been available on CD.

[Dave2002]

I agree. Having experienced a couple of truly appalling concerts conducted by Elder in the '80s (one of them the only occasion when I've left a concert at the interval) I had always avoided his work. Then, when this London Symphony first appeared, I heard the second Movement on CD Review and was utterly captivated. One of the very best recordings of the work.

(His Apostles is pretty damn fine, too!)

Interesting to read about Elder, and the same probably goes for many other conductors too. I would not rush to hear a concert conducted by Elder, but some of his work is very good. I'm not quite sure how this happens - there can be many reasons.

Re poor performances:

1. Things just don't work out on the day.
2. Not in the mood - the orchestra not playing well.
3. Inadequate preparation - for whatever reasons.
4. Over preparation - the live performance can go stale.
5. Conductors asked to conduct works which they perhaps don't know very well.
6. Conductors asked to conduct works which they perhaps don't like much.

Re good to excellent peformances
7. Conductor knows and likes work being done very well.
8. Other factors OK - orchestra good, like the work, not over-rehearsed nor under-rehearsed etc.
9. Orchestra knows and likes the work being done.

Points 5 and 6 are of interest. One way a conductor (or any musician) may be able to ensure good or very good performances is to only perform a limited repertoire. This can be a good thing, but also ultimately too limiting. Some conductors have openly stated that they have performed works which they haven't liked much, but then come to like them. During the period when they are getting to like a particular kind of music performances could be of variable quality. I suppose it's also possible that conductors may get to dislike pieces, and their performances of those works would then deteriorate.

The way it seems to work is that most conductors like and are good at conducting some works, or the works of particular composers. They would then normally try to build on their strengths, and more performances of similar works/similar composers would then be scheduled. In the case of Elder he's good with Elgar. Gergiev is very good with some Russian repertoire, but I would not rush to hear him conduct Brahms, Beethoven or Mozart - though I have heard him do that. This is not to say that he can't do it, or indeed to do it competently, but from what I've heard his performances of some music are very much better than more "ordinary" standard classical repertoire. Some conductors do manage to produce really poor performances, and of course they should be discouraged from that. Probably most end up with a niche repertoire of things which work for them, and which audiences appreciate, though the relationship between audiences, conductors and orchestras doesn't always work out if conductors try to put on more adventurous programmes containing new works. Conductors trying to build up a reputation might also be scared of trying out new works, or straying far beyond the "standard' repertoire. Audiences and concert promoters are at least partly to blame for the restricted palette of musical offerings which we have most years, and some conductors may become disliked for even trying to schedule new works, or works which don't get played often.

I'm glad to hear that Elder's VW, and particularly the London Symphony, is worth checking out. http://open.spotify.com/track/1tt3klfoOceYbGccVMLYiY