Search - Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus :: Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5/Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Wonderful Performances, Especially of the Symphony

M. C. Passarella | Lawrenceville, GA | 12/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD usefully and attractively collects some of Vaughan Williams' most serenely beautiful music, including his "other" pastoral symphony, the Symphony No. 5 written in the early years of World War II. As the notes to the recording state, the first hearers of this symphony were possibly perplexed to hear this gentle successor to the angry, militant Symphony No. 4 completed in 1934 as war clouds gathered over Europe. I guess it just goes to prove that interior states and external events don't always square with one another in the creative life. After all, Beethoven and Mozart both created some of their sunniest and most confident works at difficult periods in their lives. And there's no indication that Mozart was in extremis when he wrote some of his most tragically intense compositions, such as the Piano Concerto No. 20 and Symphony No. 40. So how to explain the pastoral radiance of Vaughan Williams' Fifth? No way to fully explain it, perhaps. However, the notes to the recording reveal that Vaughn Williams wrote the symphony while working on his opera The Pilgrim's Progress, so it's not surprising that the two works share the message of comfort in adversity that is at the heart of John Bunyan's allegorical tale.



Actually, when I first heard this symphony, in a critically acclaimed version by Previn back in the 1970s, I really didn't get it. I thought it was a pale sibling of the hard-hitting Fourth; the alternately manic and depressive Sixth; the cinematic Seventh; the brilliantly orchestrated, classically proportioned Eighth. But certainly I get this symphony in Spano's fine performance. He shapes the long melodic lines with tenderness and yet finds the points of tension, in the first and last movements especially, that reflect the troubling times in which the work was written. And Spano addresses the quiet affirmation of the slow movement, the elfin quirkiness of the woodwind-dominated scherzo, with equal success. No small thanks are due the Atlanta Symphony, playing about as beautifully as I've heard them play, and a Telarc recording that is just gorgeous, imparting a sheen to the strings and a golden flare to the brass that you won't hear, sadly, in person at Atlanta's Symphony Hall. How Telarc is able to achieve such fine results in so deficient a hall is beyond me.



The other pieces on the recording, even the substantial Serenade to Music, can be viewed as bonuses. Spano's is an excellent performance of the Serenade, but any recording must be measured against the classic one by Adrian Boult, who performs the original version for sixteen solo voices. The original version is uniquely lovely, and Boult's recording featured the finest singers in England at the time, including Norma Burroughs and Ian Partridge. Still, Spano's forces are all very convincing in his recording, and the superb digital sound is a significant plus. It's also very nice to hear the short hymn tune by Thomas Tallis on which Vaughan Williams' famous Fantasia is based.



But the reason to get this disc is the performance and recording of the symphony. Even if you own another version, this will be an ear-opener for you.

"

Over an hour of gorgeous music

Samer T Ismail | Danbury, CT | 09/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two of the works on this disc--Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony and the Tallis Fantasia--are actually rather hard to review. That's because the works themselves are so sublimely written (the reception the Fifth received, according to one VW scholar, was on par with Beethoven's Ninth) that even a barely competent performance will sound beautiful. Needless to say, though, Atlanta's performance here is far better than "barely competent." And while there are a couple of spots where Spano makes slightly unusual performance choices, the beauty of these works is never obscured. That said, my main reason for buying this CD was not the orchestral works; I already have four or five copies of each. Rather, it was the choral tracks that open and close the disc.



The opening track is actually a performance of the "Theme by Thomas Tallis" quoted by Vaughan Williams in the Fantasia, performed by 20 members of the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus. (Kudos to Telarc, by the way, for actually listing all the members of the orchestra and chorus.) Surprisingly, given the relative simplicity of the piece, this is the first CD I know of that includes both the Fantasia and the original theme.



The closing track contains what is--by comparison to the other Vaughan Williams works--a relative rarity, the "Serenade to Music." This piece, perhaps even more beautiful than the Fantasia and Symphony, is a setting of a scene from Act V of "The Merchant of Venice." Originally written for 16 soloists, Vaughan Williams reworked it (slightly) so that it could be performed by a four-part chorus with soloists--and that is the version here, featuring the full Chamber Chorus of about 80 members. And while I can't say that the choral version is my favorite version for the Serenade (that would have to go to the near-perfect 16-soloist Hyperion version), this version is, again, far more than "adequate."



Needless to say, I cannot recommend this disc highly enough. (If you can afford it, I'd get the Hyperion disc too, since the only work they have "in common" is the Serenade.)"