Vaughan Williams - A Cambridge Mass and other early works

[Alan Howe]

No stranger - but both are strange IMHO.

[Dundonnell]

Due for release by Somm (17th October) -



SOMM246

Vaughan Williams: Fantasy for Piano & Orchestra (1896, rev 1904)
William Mathias: Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2

I have just finished listening to the new Somm cd which arrived this morning

The Mathias Piano Concertos are both relatively early works-perfectly accessible, bright, reminiscent of Prokofiev or Benjamin Britten. I am glad to have them at last.

The revelation however is the Vaughan Williams Fantasy. This is quite the best early VW I have heard from amongst the recent re-discoveries. It is so good that I have just put it on again That it has lain unplayed for over a century is truly astonishing. Only a minute or two into the work is the most glorious hymn-like tune which is absolutely echt RVW. The whole work glows with astonishing confidence in the use of the orchestra and the piano.
No one can ever again accuse VW of not knowing how to write for that instrument Yes, at times the work does sound Brahmsian....but Brahms was one of the greatest composers who ever lived so what's wrong with that?

....and the last few minutes are absolutely splendidly grand

I urge you...I implore you...to listen to this marvellous work as soon as possible

[Mark Thomas]

So, you liked it, then? 

Thanks for the recommendation, Colin.

[Dundonnell]

Do I give that impression?

[albion]

I've just got in from work to find a slightly mangled package awaiting. Nevertheless, a quick change of CD case later and I've got the VW Fantasia permeating what few brain cells still remain in functioning order. It really is a very assured piece of writing, sounding much more confident than the slightly later Elegy and Triumphant Epilogue (Dutton), with a big chorale-like theme running through it, but without that individuality and more mystical quality which is already nascent in The Garden of Proserpine and even more so in Willow-Wood.

On to the Mathias now.

[albion]

Mathias duly listened to and greatly enjoyed - some wonderful writing for the soloist (especially in the Concerto No.2), colourful (but never show-off) orchestration and well within the tonal boundaries of the 'Cheltenham' idiom.

With notes by Michael Kennedy and Rhiannon Mathias (the composer's daughter), and a beautiful painting on the cover as a bonus this is a quality production.

[Dundonnell]

I've just got in from work to find a slightly mangled package awaiting. Nevertheless, a quick change of CD case later and I've got the VW Fantasia permeating what few brain cells still remain in functioning order. It really is a very assured piece of writing, sounding much more confident than the slightly later Elegy and Triumphant Epilogue (Dutton), with a big chorale-like theme running through it, but without that individuality and more mystical quality which is already nascent in The Garden of Proserpine and even more so in Willow-Wood.

On to the Mathias now.

I have to say that I prefer the Fantasia to "The Garden of Proserpine". I found the latter work relatively uninteresting

[albion]

I have to say that I prefer the Fantasia to "The Garden of Proserpine". I found the latter work relatively uninteresting

No problem - my chief interest is choral music, so I was bound to latch onto the Swinburne. The Fantasia is, however, a fine piece fully worthy of resurrection (on disc if not in the concert hall).

[Mykulh]

The recent revival of a number of early Vaughan Williams' works is a splendid development. A few years back, the first recording of his Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 was an excellent beginning of this trend. I just hope that one day the score of his seemingly-lost Norfolk Rhapsody No. 3 will turn up as this overtly nationalist-pastoral period of VW's oevre is perhaps my favorite.

Michael

[albion]

I'm holding out hopes for the Serenade (1898) and the Bucolic Suite (1902)!

[Alan Howe]

Well, I'm listening to the Fantasy in the new Somm recording - and a fascinating composition it is too. One is tempted to play 'spot the influence', of course, but actually that temptation disappears as one actually listens to this confidently written, substantial and noble work. And then, naturally, it is the fingerprints of the later RVW that one occasionally picks up. How fascinating, and how marvellous to have such an early piece (although he was apparently 30 by the time he finished it!) by our greatest composer of the modern era...

[Dundonnell]

Well, I'm listening to the Fantasy in the new Somm recording - and a fascinating composition it is too. One is tempted to play 'spot the influence', of course, but actually that temptation disappears as one actually listens to this confidently written, substantial and noble work. And then, naturally, it is the fingerprints of the later RVW that one occasionally picks up. How fascinating, and how marvellous to have such an early piece (although he was apparently 30 by the time he finished it!) by our greatest composer of the modern era...

I couldn't agree more

[Jimfin]

All this recent interest in early VW is so exciting, as it essentially allows one to reassess completely a composer I thought I knew, but clearly didn't. I had always been led to believe that VW was 'born' as a composer after the English Hymnal, and that anything early was rubbish. How wrong we are being proved, though I still find myself with traces of the old prejudice, wondering if this is 'real' VW. I think early VW is proving far better than early Holst (eg, the pretty awful 'Cotswolds' Symphony), which is a surprise. Not that it's a competition.

[Christo]

I'm holding out hopes for the Serenade (1898) and the Bucolic Suite (1902)! 

Me too. And for The Solent (1902-3), Burley Heath (1903), Harnham Down (1904), Boldre Wood (1904? lost), Pan's Anniversary (1905), Three Nocturnes (1908), The Future (1908), Folk Songs (Ward the Pirate, Tarry Trowsers, And All In The Morning, The Carter, Minehead Hobby-Horse, Phil the Fluter's Dancing) (1912). 

And, after we discovered that the incidental music for Maeterlinck's play The Death of Tintagiles (1913) proved so succesful, I would also like to hear the incidental music RVW wrote shortly after to: The Merry Wives of Windsor (1913), Richard II (1913), Henry IV (1913), Richard III (1913), Henry V (1913), The Devil's Disciple (1913) and much later for The Mayor of Casterbridge (1950). 

May I even ask for a few extra's? Last year Australian conductor Kynan Johns - a RVW lookalike, BTW ! -  conducted, with the Limburg SO in Maastricht (here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uNexM9PlCI - recommended!) the orchestral version of On Christmas Night (1938), I would like to have that one too. 

Perhaps even more? The Suite for Pipes (1938), The Abinger Pageant (1934, a cooperation with E.M. Forster!), The orchestral Suite Roy Douglas extracted from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons (1949), Solemn Music for the Masque of Charterhouse (1950), the Cello Concerto (1942-58, no doubt somebody is going to finish it). But maybe some of you won't count these as `early' works.