Vaughan Williams Conducts Vaughan Williams

1948 photograph of Ralph Vaughan Williams with his cat, Foxy (courtesy of Naxos of America)

This past Wednesday this site discussed the second volume in a series of albums released by SOMM Recordings under the title Vaughan Williams Live. Taken together, these two volumes account for symphonic compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted by two of his contemporaries: Malcom Sargent on the first volume and Adrian Boult on the second. This coming Friday will see the release of what I believe will be the third and final volume in the series consisting of recorded performances conducted by Vaughan Williams himself. As is usually the case, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders of the CD release.

Like the first two volumes, this new release is the result of meticulous restoration and remastering by Lani Spahr. That said, it is important to recognize that one cannot restore that which does not exist. The first CD in the set consists of a 1946 Proms performance of the second (“London”) symphony, followed by a 1943 recording of the fifth symphony in D major. Both of these are piecemeal accounts. Those familiar with either or both of these symphonies may relish the opportunity to listen to how Vaughan Williams accounted for the fragments that were captured, but neither of these symphonies provides a “whole cloth” listening experience.

Only the second CD accounts for compositions in their entirety. The first of these is a 1952 recording of the fifth symphony performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This is followed by the 1936 “Dona Nobis Pacem” cantata performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Renée Flynn (soprano) and Roy Henderson (baritone). One can definitely appreciate the remastering efforts for this CD. Nevertheless, one can go only so far in appreciating the more subtle details behind the performance. Once again, I have to confess that, when it comes to approaching Vaughan Williams with attentive listening, I again prefer to direct my attention to the EMI recordings that Boult made in the decades following the composer’s death.