Search - Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Barbirolli :: Introduction and Allegro / Serenade / Elegy/ Sospiri / Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis / Fantasia on Greensleeves

One of the great treasures of recorded music

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 05/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my will, I outline briefly the kind of memorial service that I would like to have. Nothing fancy. Cremation. No flowers. But one very, very important part of the service would be a period of meditation in which a recording of Sir John Barbirolli conducting "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" is played. Partly this is because I want to leave my friends with this parting gift, and partly because I think this music is as close to heavenly as I can conceive.Over the years, I have owned 4 or 5 recordings of the Tallis Fantasia, and have heard 5 or 6 others (regretably, I have never heard it performed live, which is something I dearly hope for at some point in the future). Several of them are quite excellent. Karajan, surprisingly, did one of the very best on an old Mono recording (frequently out of print, but currently available on a Karajan compilation disc with pieces by Britten and Stravinsky) with the London Philharmonic. But the Barbirolli easily surpasses the best of all the rest. This recording has been available on and off over the years, and I would urge anyone who cares for beautiful music, for the Tallis Fantasia, for string music, for English classical music, or for Vaughan Williams, to get his or her own copy while this is available. I should add that over the years I have read innumerable reviews of the Tallis Fantasia, and the Barbirolli is always the standard by which the measure of the new efforts is taken. Frequently reviewers will write lines like, "Although it does not reach the heights of Barbirolli's version . . ." The disc is frequently acknowledged as one of the great classical recordings of all time. And justly so.While the Tallis Fantasia is the greatest gem on the recording, the Elgar pieces are quite superb on their own, so that there is more than one reason to own this CD. I enthusiastically recommend this album to anyone who cares about music."

Unsurpassable

Tom Gauterin | Loughborough, Leics. United Kingdom | 07/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of the many CDs of English music that I have in my collection, this is without any doubt the best. I think it contains the finest performances ever given of every work on it and it's very probably Barbirolli's best recording, too. The two major pieces on the disc, the Tallis Fantasia and the Introduction and Allegro, demonstrate the huge range of effects that the players were capable of. The Introduction and Allegro is both polished and immensely fiery, with the quartet of soloists perfectly integrated with the rest of the strings. The fugue- which Elgar called "a devil... with all sorts of japes and counterpoint" is played with complete clarity, quite an achievement given the apparent thickness of Elgar's scoring. The piece certainly benefits from Barbirolli's own practical experience; being a professional cellist before he began conducting, he knew exactly what was possible from the instruments and the huge range of dynamics and bowing styles used here show that he exploited that knowledge to the full in the making of this recording. The earlier Serenade, while slighter but in no way lacking in substance, displays many mature Elgarian signs and is dispatched with similar elan to the larger work. It sounds suitably gentle yet with the suggestion of something darker beneath the surface, as do the two short Elgar pieces, the Elegy and Sospiri. As the booklet notes say, these pieces don't last for ten minutes put together, yet Barbirolli instils an unmistakeable sense of heartbreak in both of them. The Tallis Fantasia, however, requires a very different approach, far more reticent than the openly emotional one required for Elgar's music. Again, Barbirolli catches the sense of mystery and ecclesiastical grandeur to perfection and the effect of the quietest possible pianissimos is magical. Vaughan Williams's wife said that this was much the best recording ever made of the piece and it isn't hard to see why; the double quartet and soloists are perfectly balanced against the larger group of players and this adds immeasurably to one's appreciation of Vaughan Williams's scoring with specific antiphonal effects in mind. This performance is the perfect example for explaing Howells's comment that strings were capable of producing "sonority without noise;" here, they make a very beautiful sound indeed and they are certainly helped by the recording quality. It certainly belies its 1962 vintage! In short, this is an indispensable CD. It belongs in any serious collection, for it contains performances that have never even been approached of some of the finest works by two of England's greatest composers- all overseen by a conductor who remains unbeatable in this repertoire."

The Definitive Recording for these Works

M. R. | United States | 12/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Musicologists often joke that England produced no good classical music between the death of Handel and the rise of the composers Elgar and Vaughan Williams. This CD certainly confirms the old adage that good things come to those who wait.A musician myself, I have performed every piece on this CD and, out of all of the available recordings of it, I have always found myself returning to this disc for inspiration.The setting of Vaughan William's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is particularly beautiful, with the divinely sorrowful contrast between the divided orchestra coming across in the digital medium almost as well as in the concert hall, which is sadly more than I can claim for many other recordings of the piece.This is an excellent disc, and one that I have often used to prove to friends that they actually do like classical music. It's a must own!In an odd side note, the track information displayed for this CD is entirely wrong. I have verified this on multiple computers."