"They aren't mutually exclusive."

[anglesandelbows]

"You are way too young to know who [Ralph] Vaughan Williams is."

"Twenty-two and holding!"

Comments

[singinghels]

Gaarrgh. I know I'm English, and so knowing vaguely who RVW was since the age of about ten isn't particularly abnormal, but really??

Fourth Symphony...Shostakovich without being scary and Russian...

[anglesandelbows]

Yeah! See, a literature (or as we say in South Carolina, "litritcher") professor told me that, and she spent half a year in Ireland. Come on now, professor.

I just bought RVW's own recording of the Fourth from Dutton; comes with "Glorious" John Barbirolli's recording of the Fifth. If you don't have it, buy it buy it buy it. It is awesome, despite the 1937 sound. Yes, it is better than Boult, but RVW claims that Boult basically re-invented and improved the slow movement.

[singinghels]

Love that recording! I used to work in a classical record store in London, andwe used to play that CD all the time! For my money, it's the best recording of the Fourth. I bought the EMI box set of the Boult cycle, but it's not a patch on the RVW. Dutton are releasing a load of interesting archive recordings like that - there are several RVW symphonies, if memory serves... How easy are they to get hold of over there? They're difficult enough to find in London!

[anglesandelbows]

Mail order. I mail-ordered everything except the two disc set that Decca put out. It's basically a re-hash of the stuff Marriner made around the seventies, but it also has Boult's recording of the Partita. Whee! That's awesomeness, if that is a word. I love the Partita and I love Boult so that's a double play. Also, it has a recent recording of the Tallywag, which was the one played on Master and Commander.

I like Boult's 8th fine but I actually liked the cheap Naxos recording better. How is Boult's Sinfonia antartica? (Hey, I spelled it correctly!)