2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams (on October 12, 1872). Following up on yesterday’s post about the composer’s connections to the Day Lewis family, here’s some additional RVW material to brighten the weekend of any musical Anglophile.
I transcribed the text of C. Day Lewis’ encomium, on the occasion of RVW’s 85th birthday, from this first-rate radio documentary, which also includes abundant commentary by Vaughan Williams himself, his wife Ursula, Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Barbirolli, and others. I highly recommend it.
Then enjoy two concert performances of Vaughan Williams symphonies led by two of his most notable American interpreters. André Previn conducts the Houston Symphony at Carnegie Hall in the Symphony No. 4, from 1969, and Leonard Slatkin conducts the Chicago Symphony in the Symphony No. 5, from 1988. Both conductors went on to record acclaimed cycles of Vaughan Williams’ symphonies.
You don’t have to purchase the recordings at the link. Just click on any of the arrows and allow them to play through. The tracks will play continuously, from one into another.
These works – which couldn’t be more different – should be in the repertoire of every American orchestra. Sadly, it looks as if we’re in for another year of “Tallis Fantasias,” if that. If anyone happens to hear of a Vaughan Williams symphony being performed live on the East Coast, PLEASE let me know!
Remembering Sir David Willcocks on his birthday, directing two favorite Christmas carols arranged by Vaughan Williams.
“Yorkshire Wassail Song”
“Wassail Song”
Of course, Willcocks also conducted my favorite recording of RVW’s “Hodie,” which I got to enjoy this year on Christmas Day. Here it is again, a few days late.
By the time I learned last night of the death of Bernard Haitink, there was little I could do about it. I had had a late dinner and watched a movie, and it was all I could do to brush my teeth and struggle through a chapter in bed.
With the dawn of another day, I can share my recollection of working as a clerk at Sam Goody in the 1980s – essentially signing my paycheck back over to the company in exchange for CDs – and the piecemeal acquisition of my first Shostakovich cycle, with Haitink conducting. Really, in the early days of compact disc, if you wanted all the symphonies, there weren’t any other options. I’ve since acquired complete cycles by Kondrashin and Barshai, and powerful one-offs by any number of other conductors, but I’ve always hung on to Haitink. He also took a remarkable interest in Vaughan Williams, recording all the symphonies, unusual for a major conductor outside of England – especially so for someone from mainland Europe.
For many, Haitink’s memory will be indivisible from his long association with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of his native Amsterdam. He also held important conducting posts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1967-1989), Glyndebourne Opera (1978-1988), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1987-2002), the Staatskapelle Dresden (2002-2004), and the Chicago Symphony (2006-2010). Chicago wanted him longer, but he declined, citing his advancing age. His final concert was in Lucerne, on September 6, 2019, with the Vienna Philharmonic.
As a music-lover, concertgoer, and record collector for over 40 years, I am sorry to lose anyone as prominent as Haitink has been. He was one of the last lions of the podium of his generation. It’s funny that he received so much recognition for his performances of the core Germanic repertoire (especially Brahms and Beethoven), since I mostly found his recordings in this department to be rather uninteresting. He did, however, often deliver in unexpected places.
He received nine Grammy nominations, for a complete Beethoven cycle, Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis,” Brahms’ “A German Requiem,” and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” but also for recordings of Vaughan Williams’ “A Sea Symphony” and “Sinfonia Antartica” and Holst’s “The Planets.” He won twice, for Janacek’s opera “Jenufa” in 2003 and again in 2008 for a later recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4.
Here are some links to a few of my favorite Haitink recordings:
A live performance of Shostakovich Symphony No. 15
Debussy’s “Images”
A concert broadcast of John McCabe’s “Chagall Windows”
Since today is Liszt’s birthday, from Haitink’s complete recordings of the symphonic poems, “Die Ideale”
Finally, the European Union Youth Orchestra giving its all in a Haitink specialty, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7
Bernard Haitink was 92 years-old. Thank you, Maestro, and R.I.P.
In December, I noted the date on which Vaughan Williams’ “Lark” first ascended 100 years before. That was in the version for violin and piano. Today marks the centennial of the first time it was heard in its definitive form for violin and orchestra.
Though written in 1914, it wasn’t played publicly until December 15, 1920 – as stated, on violin and piano – in the unassuming venue of Shirehampton Public Hall in Bristol. Marie Hall was the esteemed violinist. The pianist was Geoffrey Mendham.
Hall – who made the first recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto, with the composer conducting – was also the soloist at the premiere of the orchestral version, which received greater notice, when it was unveiled at the Queen’s Hall, London, 100 YEARS AGO TODAY. The British Symphony Orchestra was conducted on that occasion by Adrian Boult.
The score, which bears an inscription from a poem of George Meredith, is the quintessence of the composer’s elegiac pastoralism. Thanks in part to frequent radio airplay, the music’s popularity increases annually, with “The Lark Ascending” consistently ranked among top listener favorites. At the same time, it has been embraced by more and more violinists.
Vaughan Williams described his leisurely, contemplative, frankly gorgeous violin rhapsody as “a romance.” It now soars as some of his best-known music.
Hark, hark, the Lark.
He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.
For singing till his heaven fills,
‘Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
to lift us with him as he goes.
Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.
Marie Hall plays the Elgar Violin Concerto, heavily-abridged, in 1916:
Vaughan Williams’ “Lark” first ascended 100 years ago today.
Written in 1914, it was first performed on this date in 1920, albeit in a version for violin and piano, in the unassuming venue of Shirehampton Public Hall in Bristol. Marie Hall was the esteemed violinist. The pianist was Geoffrey Mendham. Hall – who made the first recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto, with the composer as conductor – was also the soloist at the premiere of the orchestral version, which received greater notice, when it was unveiled at the Queen’s Hall, London, on June 14, 1921. The British Symphony Orchestra was conducted on that occasion by Adrian Boult.
The score, which bears an inscription from a poem of George Meredith, is the quintessence of the composer’s elegiac pastoralism. Thanks in part to frequent radio airplay, the music’s popularity increases annually, with “The Lark Ascending” consistently ranked among top listener favorites. At the same time, it has been embraced by more and more violinists.
The composer described his leisurely, contemplative, frankly gorgeous violin rhapsody as “a romance.” It now soars as some of his best-known music.
Hark, hark, the Lark.
He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain of sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.
For singing till his heaven fills,
‘Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
to lift us with him as he goes.
Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.
