Ralph Vaughan Williams: Top 20 Recordings
Thursday, April 11, 2024
From The Lark Ascending to Sinfonia antartica, here are Ralph Vaughan Williams's greatest works in outstanding recordings from André Previn, Bernard Haitink, Adrian Boult and more
Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending and Tallis Fantasia are amongst the most popular works by any British composer, but it is in his nine symphonies that we feel the true substance of a composer who was far more than a mere painter of beautiful scenes. By its very nature, no Top 20 list could hope to include all of the wonderful recordings of Vaughan Williams's music that we have available to us today. But here is a selection of 20 outstanding recordings that are sure to offer many hours of listening pleasure. There is a mix of classic recordings (Previn's Pastoral Symphony, Barbirolli's extraordinary Eighth) and very recent releases, so there should be something new and interesting to discover for even long-time Vaughan Williams devotees.
A Sea Symphony
Katherine Broderick sop Roderick Williams bar Hallé Choir and Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder (Hallé)
‘Elder presides over a majestic performance, brimful of lofty spectacle, abundant temperament and stunning accomplishment. In both outer movements especially the towering climaxes are built and resolved with unassailable mastery – and I don’t think I’ve ever been more aware just of how touchingly the slow movement’s coda foreshadows its counterpart in A London Symphony.’ (Andrew Achenbach, Awards issue 2015)
A London Symphony
London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Hickox (Chandos)
‘Hickox and the LSO respond with an unquenchable spirit, generous flexibility and tender affection that suit VW’s admirably ambitious inspiration to a T, and Chandos’s sound is big and bold to match. Quite simply, an essential purchase for anyone remotely interested in British music.’ (Andrew Achenbach, July 2001)
A Pastoral Symphony. Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra
Heather Harper sop John Fletcher tba London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn (RCA Red Seal)
‘As with this team's contemporaneous, and no less memorable rendering of VW's Fifth Symphony, unruffled patience goes hand in hand with a tingling concentration and devastating emotional candour rarely encountered in the studio.’ (Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone Collection, July 2002)
Symphony No 4 & A Pastoral Symphony
Amanda Roocroft; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Bernard Haitink (Warner Classics)
‘Haitink presides over a performance of immense integrity and perceptive long-term rigour. By not driving the first movement too hard, Haitink ensures that we can savour the full expressive eloquence of the strings’ appassionato sostenuto secondary idea (not to mention the fabulous cantabile cello and bass counterpoint which appears soon after). The implacable tread of the slow movement put me in mind of another Fourth Symphony, that of Sibelius, and the flute solo at the close really does chill to the marrow.’ (Andrew Achenbach, May 1998)
Symphony No 5 & Scenes adapted from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
Georgina Wheatley sop Kitty Whately mez Christopher Bowen ten Tom Raskin ten Andrew Rupp bass Jamie W Hall bass Marcus Farnsworth bar BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus / Martyn Brabbins (Hyperion)
‘All told, a scrupulously attentive, uncommonly humane Fifth, utterly free of artifice and, to my mind, deserving of a place alongside Barbirolli (EMI/Warner, 5/44), Boult (Decca, 4/54), Previn, Handley (EMI/Warner, 3/88), and Haitink’s studio and live performances with the LPO from December 1994 (EMI/Warner, 12/95, and LPO, 10/13).’ (Andrew Achenbach, December 2020)
Symphonies No 6 & Symphony No 4
London Symphony Orchestra / Antonio Pappano (LSO Live)
‘Antonio Pappano’s scrupulously prepared and urgently communicative reading of Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony is a splendidly cogent affair, with no lack of sinewy thrust and tension levels a welcome notch or two higher than on Mark Elder’s Hallé account (10/17). Pappano plunges us into the opening maelstrom with thrillingly combustible results, the LSO responding with infectious application, while the second subject’s full flowering at one after fig 15 or 6'03" is paced to flowing perfection.’ (Andrew Achenbach, June 2021)
Sinfonia antartica
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Vernon Handley (CfP)
‘Vernon Handley’s particular affinity with the English repertoire is vividly transmitted to the RLPO in a performance that is striking both for the idiomatic way in which he characterises the various episodes in the drama of Sinfonia antartica and for his rational approach to making the symphony gel as a cohesive, powerful statement.’ (Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone Collection, April 2011)
Symphony No 8
Hallé Orchestra / John Barbirolli (Naxos)
‘Barbirolli was a friend to many composers, yet his relationship with Vaughan Williams was one of special connections. There’s an ardent, touchingly plaintive Fifth from 1944; it’s a little rough-hewn when heard alongside his radiant 1962 account with the Philharmonia, but this ruggedness is part of its charm. Then there’s the 1957 A London Symphony, one of Barbirolli and the Hallé’s most magical recordings, and close to perfection in terms of both atmosphere and dramatic trenchancy. It seems more apt, however, to give the palm to this kaleidoscopic and still unrivalled reading of the Eighth, as the work was dedicated to Barbirolli – ‘Glorious John’, as Vaughan Williams called him, for the admiration was reciprocal. Awarding the conductor with the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1950, the composer described him as ‘one of those wizards who can take the dry bones of crotchets and quavers and breathe into them the breath of life’.’ (Andrew Achenbach, 'Barbirolli: A Life in Recordings', Gramophone, July 2020)
Symphony No 9 & Job
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Davis (Chandos)
‘Come the visionary finale, clear-sighted rigour goes hand in hand with a questing spirit to cap a mightily impressive Ninth that, to my mind, deserves a place at the top table alongside the 1969 Boult, Handley and Haitink.’ (Andrew Achenbach, March 2017)
Job, Old King Cole & The Running Set
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Manze (Onyx)
‘Already available separately as a digital-only EP, Andrew Manze’s RLPO account of Vaughan Williams’s towering Job: A Masque for Dancing now receives a physical release with new couplings. Scrupulously prepared and boasting some superbly coordinated, infectiously dedicated playing from the RLPO, it’s a thoroughly absorbing interpretation which in its unhurried, intelligent and watchful demeanour perhaps most resembles Mark Elder’s Hallé account (2/21) as well as Richard Hickox’s under-the-radar Bournemouth SO version (EMI, 7/92).’ (Andrew Achenbach, August 2023)
The Lark Ascending
Hugh Bean vn New Philharmonia Orchestra / Adrian Boult (Warner Classics)
‘Warm-toned and sensitively recorded, this reassuring mainstream option, under the work’s original conductor, still sounds well enough to warrant the prime recommendation.’ (David Gutman, Gramophone Collection, Awards issue 2015)
The Lark Ascending & Fantasia on a Theme By Thomas Tallis
James Ehnes vn Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Manze (Onyx)
‘The three works, however, which are especially memorable on this recording are the wonderfully spacious interpretation of The Lark Ascending, the edifying Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and, perhaps epicentral to Vaughan Williams’s character, Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’. The clarity of James Ehnes’s playing, with virtually flawless intonation, is relaxed and profoundly lyrical with a shaping of phrase and dynamic nuance I have not heard since the days of Hugh Bean.’ (Jeremy Dibble, December 2019)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Davis (Warner Apex)
‘Davis's account of the Fantasia reminded me of Barbirolli and his classic 1963 recording for EMI; it has the same searching intensity and beautifully poised countenance and a climax so sublimely passionate as to be almost unbearable. I shall always cherish the Barbirolli, but Davis makes strong claims on being my first choice for a modern alternative.’ (Michael Stewart, August 1991)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
‘Vaughan Williams, Howells, Delius & Elgar - Music for Strings’
Sinfonia of London / John Wilson (Chandos)
‘Vaughan Williams’s dialogue with the past (from 4'14") is vividly staged by the appreciable distance between ensembles, and to a degree matched on record only by Constantin Silvestri’s masterful handling of the acoustic in Winchester Cathedral (Warner, 5/68). Without stretching to Silvestri’s heavenly lengths, Wilson wisely takes the composer’s metronome mark with a generous pinch of salt, while easing back and forth in the central section with a feeling for the ground beneath his feet like Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren.’ (Peter Quantrill, March 2023)
Concerto for Oboe and Strings
Nicholas Daniel ob Britten Sinfonia (Harmonia Mundi)
‘A career-long association with the concerto makes Nicholas Daniel the ideal soloist. The authority with which the work’s challenges are surmounted, along with Daniel’s flowing virtuosity and buttery tone, make this an unforgettable performance. He inspires the Britten Sinfonia to give an architecturally cohesive and elegantly contoured accompaniment. Beautiful surround sound from Harmonia Mundi further adds to the attraction.’ (David Threasher, Gramophone Collection, June 2023)
String Quartets. Phantasy Quintet
Maggini Quartet, Garfield Jackson va (Naxos)
‘The Maggini Quartet and Garfield Jackson clearly love this music deeply; they play it with great beauty of tone and variety of colour and with passionate expressiveness. The ample recording allows both grand gestures and quiet intimacy. A coupling to confirm, if you have ever doubted, that Vaughan Williams was a great composer.’ (Michael Oliver, May 2001)
Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Sarah Fox sop Roderick Williams bar Joyful Company of Singers; City of London Sinfonia / Richard Hickox (Chandos)
‘Top of my list comes the recording with Hickox, Williams, the CLS and the JCS for the precision and quality of sound, the warmth of Williams’s sensuous tone, the pathos of the string-playing and the contrasts of the three main sections. Moreover, this interpretation is served best by the composer’s more intimate scoring for strings and organ which, for me at least, provides such a sympathetic insight into Vaughan Williams’s imaginative and inventive score.’ (Jeremy Dibble, Gramophone Collection, December 2013)
Dona nobis pacem
Bryn Terfel; London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra / Richard Hickox (Warner Classics)
‘Hickox brings his LSO forces together impressively in superb Abbey Road sound to convey all the sweep and power of this score. Of modern recordings, he pips Matthew Best to the post in large part owing to the magisterial presence of Bryn Terfel, whose commanding tone makes this a definitive reading and inspires all present to give their very best. Simply magnificent!’ (Geraint Lewis, Gramophone Collection, November 2016)
‘Retrospect’
Jack Liebeck vn Andrew Staples ten Thomas Carroll vc London Choral Sinfonia / Michael Waldron (Orchid Classics)
‘Jack Liebeck lends stellar advocacy to the invigoratingly taut Violin Concerto in D minor that RVW fashioned in 1924‑25 for the Hungarian virtuoso Jelly d’Arányi (1893-1966), its unmistakably Bachian Adagio centrepiece distilling a sensuous warmth and rapt glow that will stop you in your tracks. Ideally supported by Waldron and company, Liebeck gives the most convincing performance of this underrated gem to have come my way since Bradley Creswick’s terrific account with Richard Hickox and the Northern Sinfonia (Warner, 7/88).’ (Andrew Achenbach, March 2024)
On Wenlock Edge & other songs
Nicky Spence ten Timothy Ridout va Julius Drake pf Piatti Quartet (Hyperion)
‘Nicky Spence and colleagues serve up a nourishing feast of Vaughan Williams’s vocal music, culminating in a performance of On Wenlock Edge which, in its thrilling assurance, strength of imagination and rapt instinct, inclines me to rank it alongside the very finest I know.’ (Andrew Achenbach, May 2022)
