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Music : Vaughan Williams: The Collectors Edition .
Rating: 
- A fantastic showcase for a great composer
EMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed).
Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and the original version of the 'London' Symphony (both conducted by Richard Hickox on Chandos), the early chamber music (Nash Ensemble on Hyperion), 'Willow Wood' and 'The Sons of Light' (both on the same outstanding Naxos disc).
As seems to be the custom with these large sets, the collection is presented in a very sturdy box with the discs housed in paper sleeves. With just a track listing supplied, I would also strongly suggest purchasing Michael Kennedy's excellent 'The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams' (Clarendon Paperbacks).
Above all, this is an outstanding bargain which I would recommend without reservation.
Rating: - Not flawless, but nevertheless an outstanding bargain
30 discs for around £40 is a pretty good proposition, but you need to know what is on them, don't you? Ok, here goes. Volumes 1-6 contain the nine symphonies played by the RLPO conducted by Vernon Handley, together with the Oboe Concerto played by Jonathan Small and the Serenade to Music (Choral version, with the RLP Choir). Handley's performances are not necessarily the best ever of each of these individually, but they are certainly all above average and some, such as No.5, are considered among the best.
Disc 7 has the Wasps Suite and Piano Concerto, one-piano version (Piers Lane and the RLPO/Handley again), plus the Prelude and Fugue in C minor originally written for organ, but here in its impressive orchestral guise. Disc 8 starts with the two-piano version of the Piano Concerto, then Job, both under Boult, but with different orchestras (LPO/LSO). Disc 9 has the 16 soloist version of the Serenade to Music under Boult (sublime!) the English Folksong Suite in its orchestral guise with the LSO, the Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 with the New Philharmonia, the Fantasia on Greensleeves with the LSO, In the Fen Country with the New Philharmonia, and perhaps the most famous recording of The Lark Ascending with Hugh Bean as soloist. On Disc 10, we have the Tallis Fantasia with the Bournemouth SO under Silvestri (a shame that EMI didn't include the Barbirolli recording), the March Sea Songs and Folksong Suite (again) both in their wind band versions (played by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force), Dawn Patrol from the film Coastal Command with the RLPO under Charles Groves, the Concerto Grosso with the LPO under Boult, the famous recording of the Romance for harmonica and strings with the dedicatee, Larry Adler(+ BBCSO/Sargent) and the Tuba Concerto with the LSO/Barbirolli.
Disc 11, which is devoted to recordings by the Northern Sinfonia of England and Sinfonia Chorus under Richard Hickox, begins with the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music, the Overture to The Poisoned Kiss, Old King Cole, Five Mystical Songs (a shame they didn't use the Willcox/Shirley Quirk version instead, which is more attuned with the spirit of the music), Prelude on an Old Carol Tune, The Running Set, prelude to 49th Parallel and the Sea Songs March (orchestral version).
Disc 12 has the orchestral version (by Gordon Jacob) of the Brass Band Variations, with the Bournemouth SO under Brendan O'Brien (a good and little known piece), Two Hymn Tune Preludes, the Concerto Accademico (Violin Concerto) with Bradley Creswick as soloist, Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes in its orchestral guise (what a good piece!), these last three with the Northern Sinfonia under Hickox, then as a slightly different filler, the String Quartet No. 1 in G minor with the Britten Quartet (what a fantastic and underrated piece of chamber music this is!).
Disc 13 continues the chamber music theme, with the Violin Sonata, the Phantasy Quintet, 6 Studies in English Folksong in its cello and piano version, and the String Quartet No. 2 (Music Group of London).
Disc 14 is a compilation of old favourite recordings conducted by Boult, with Toward the Unknown Region, Dona Nobis Pacem, the Fantasia Concertante on the Old 104th and the (beautifully Holstian) Magnificat with Helen Watts as soloist.
It gets better... Disc 15 begins with John Westbrook as speaker in An Oxford Elegy, then there's the Whitsuntide Hymn from Three Choral Hymns sung by Robin Doveton, Flos Campi with Cecil Aronowitz and the Jacques Orchestra, and a quite superb performance of Sancta Civitas with the LSO/Shirley Quirk/ Partridge with the Bach Choir and the LSO/David Willcocks (what a neglected VW gem this is...).
Can it continue? Yes it can, as disc 16 is a cornucopia of wonderful Willcocks, with his magical recordings of Five Tudor Portraits, the Benedicite and Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.
Disc 17 turns to Christmas fare, with the Fantasia on Christmas Carols (strings and organ version) with the City of Guildford Orchestra/Barry Rose, and then it's back to Willcocks and the Bach Choir (and Janet Baker) in the Christmas cantata Hodie - if you're still in doubt, try "It was the winter wild" or "The Oxen".
Just in case you haven't had enough Christmas music, the full orchestral version of the Fanstasia on Christmas Carols (with the LSO/Hickox) begins disc 18, then there is We've been awhile a-wandering in a choral/orchestral version (Bach Choir/Willcocks) and the choral suite derived from VW's opera Sir John in Love, In Windsor Forest (Bournemouth SO/Bournemouth Symphony Choir/ del Mar). Then two real classics, Songs of Travel in its orchestral version with Thomas Allen and On Wenlock Edge with Robert Tear, both with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Simon Rattle (what a shame he hasn't yet recorded the symphonies yet...).
Then we are on to a really good and diverse selection of miscellaneous choral pieces on disc 19, including (among other things) the Mass in G minor (King's College Choir/Willcocks), the Te Deum in G, O taste and see, and two versions of All people that on earth do dwell.
Discs 20 and 21 are devoted to songs - with Ian Patridge taking the palm for his brilliant singing of the Four Hymns (for voice, viola and piano), Merciless Beauty, Ten Blake Songs and On Wenlock Edge (have any of these ever been sung more affectingly?). Anthony Rolfe Johnson then sings The House of Life and the Songs of Travel, the latter in its original voice and piano version.
Discs 23 and 24 contain a variety of oddments, including the London Madrigal Singers in folk songs, Janet Baker singing Linden Lea, and also a choral version of Linden Lea with the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral. Solo-voice folk song arrangements with Robert Tear and Philip Ledger (piano) are on disc 23 - just listen and wonder at How cold the wind doth blow - and this disc is rounded off with Boult conducting VW's post-WW2 commemorative piece, A Song of Thanksgiving.
Disc 24 starts with the cantata Epithalamion (LPO/Bach Choir/Willcocks), and then the rest of the box is devoted to VW's operas - Riders to the Sea (the Meredith Davies version - unequalled), Hugh the Drover (discs 25 and 26 - RPO/Groves), Sir John in Love (discs 27 and 28 - NPO/Meredith Davies) and, if all the rest were not enough, The Pilgrim's Progress in the recording by the LPO with Boult/John Noble, which in my view is the best-ever recorded performance (so far) of this masterpiece, including (at the very end) some rehearsal extracts, which are worth hearing maybe once.
If you have even the vaguest interest in VW, this is unmissable and if you are a fan and don't already have most of these recordings, it is one of the great bargains of our time.
Rating:
- Good value let down by poor presentation.
This set of recordings represents good value and an excellent way of obtaining many of Vaughan Williams' works. In my opinion it is let down by several things. Although the set comes in a handsome box, the cds within are in flimsy paper sleeves which soon become damaged with use. The information in the booklet is minimal and at times confusing and there is no biographical note about the composer. There are some pieces that are repeated - albeit in slightly different versions and some glaring omissions. My main critiscism is that the quality of some of the recordings, particularly the choral works, is poor, sometimes so much so as to render them unlistenable. If they had an historic interest that would be forgiveable, but that is not the case. They are digital remasters in many cases but sound as though they were originally recorded on a traffic island in the rush hour.
Rating: - Excellent value
If you are looking to buy a complete Vaughan Williams collection in one go, look no further. This is a well packaged box with 30 CDs in envelopes. Takes up about as much room as my old set of VW symphonies. The set includes all the well known VW pieces (Lark Ascending, Greensleeves) and all the symphonies. But some rarities in this set too not available elsewhere. My only quibble - the only information provided is a booklet showing the track listing on each CD, and even then it's not easy to work out who's playing and conducting each piece. I would have appreciated at least some brief notes on the music - especially for the lesser known works - but words for the songs, choral pieces and operas would have been too much to hope for at this price.
- A fantastic showcase for a great composerEMI's new 30-disc box-set is one of the truly outstanding contributions to Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary celebrations. In one collection listeners now have virtually his entire output in recordings ranging from the very good to the exceptional: this set is a tribute of EMI's long-standing commitment to British music (now sadly curtailed).
Vernon Handley's magisterial cycle of the symphonies is beautifully played and recorded, and the major choral works and operas are all presented in excellent performances and recordings. There are some omissions (of course, since EMI did not record absolutely everything Vaughan Williams wrote) but these can be easily rectified through the additional purchase of the opera 'The Poisoned Kiss' and the original version of the 'London' Symphony (both conducted by Richard Hickox on Chandos), the early chamber music (Nash Ensemble on Hyperion), 'Willow Wood' and 'The Sons of Light' (both on the same outstanding Naxos disc).
As seems to be the custom with these large sets, the collection is presented in a very sturdy box with the discs housed in paper sleeves. With just a track listing supplied, I would also strongly suggest purchasing Michael Kennedy's excellent 'The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams' (Clarendon Paperbacks).
Above all, this is an outstanding bargain which I would recommend without reservation.
Rating:
- Not flawless, but nevertheless an outstanding bargain30 discs for around £40 is a pretty good proposition, but you need to know what is on them, don't you? Ok, here goes. Volumes 1-6 contain the nine symphonies played by the RLPO conducted by Vernon Handley, together with the Oboe Concerto played by Jonathan Small and the Serenade to Music (Choral version, with the RLP Choir). Handley's performances are not necessarily the best ever of each of these individually, but they are certainly all above average and some, such as No.5, are considered among the best.
Disc 7 has the Wasps Suite and Piano Concerto, one-piano version (Piers Lane and the RLPO/Handley again), plus the Prelude and Fugue in C minor originally written for organ, but here in its impressive orchestral guise. Disc 8 starts with the two-piano version of the Piano Concerto, then Job, both under Boult, but with different orchestras (LPO/LSO). Disc 9 has the 16 soloist version of the Serenade to Music under Boult (sublime!) the English Folksong Suite in its orchestral guise with the LSO, the Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 with the New Philharmonia, the Fantasia on Greensleeves with the LSO, In the Fen Country with the New Philharmonia, and perhaps the most famous recording of The Lark Ascending with Hugh Bean as soloist. On Disc 10, we have the Tallis Fantasia with the Bournemouth SO under Silvestri (a shame that EMI didn't include the Barbirolli recording), the March Sea Songs and Folksong Suite (again) both in their wind band versions (played by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force), Dawn Patrol from the film Coastal Command with the RLPO under Charles Groves, the Concerto Grosso with the LPO under Boult, the famous recording of the Romance for harmonica and strings with the dedicatee, Larry Adler(+ BBCSO/Sargent) and the Tuba Concerto with the LSO/Barbirolli.
Disc 11, which is devoted to recordings by the Northern Sinfonia of England and Sinfonia Chorus under Richard Hickox, begins with the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music, the Overture to The Poisoned Kiss, Old King Cole, Five Mystical Songs (a shame they didn't use the Willcox/Shirley Quirk version instead, which is more attuned with the spirit of the music), Prelude on an Old Carol Tune, The Running Set, prelude to 49th Parallel and the Sea Songs March (orchestral version).
Disc 12 has the orchestral version (by Gordon Jacob) of the Brass Band Variations, with the Bournemouth SO under Brendan O'Brien (a good and little known piece), Two Hymn Tune Preludes, the Concerto Accademico (Violin Concerto) with Bradley Creswick as soloist, Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes in its orchestral guise (what a good piece!), these last three with the Northern Sinfonia under Hickox, then as a slightly different filler, the String Quartet No. 1 in G minor with the Britten Quartet (what a fantastic and underrated piece of chamber music this is!).
Disc 13 continues the chamber music theme, with the Violin Sonata, the Phantasy Quintet, 6 Studies in English Folksong in its cello and piano version, and the String Quartet No. 2 (Music Group of London).
Disc 14 is a compilation of old favourite recordings conducted by Boult, with Toward the Unknown Region, Dona Nobis Pacem, the Fantasia Concertante on the Old 104th and the (beautifully Holstian) Magnificat with Helen Watts as soloist.
It gets better... Disc 15 begins with John Westbrook as speaker in An Oxford Elegy, then there's the Whitsuntide Hymn from Three Choral Hymns sung by Robin Doveton, Flos Campi with Cecil Aronowitz and the Jacques Orchestra, and a quite superb performance of Sancta Civitas with the LSO/Shirley Quirk/ Partridge with the Bach Choir and the LSO/David Willcocks (what a neglected VW gem this is...).
Can it continue? Yes it can, as disc 16 is a cornucopia of wonderful Willcocks, with his magical recordings of Five Tudor Portraits, the Benedicite and Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.
Disc 17 turns to Christmas fare, with the Fantasia on Christmas Carols (strings and organ version) with the City of Guildford Orchestra/Barry Rose, and then it's back to Willcocks and the Bach Choir (and Janet Baker) in the Christmas cantata Hodie - if you're still in doubt, try "It was the winter wild" or "The Oxen".
Just in case you haven't had enough Christmas music, the full orchestral version of the Fanstasia on Christmas Carols (with the LSO/Hickox) begins disc 18, then there is We've been awhile a-wandering in a choral/orchestral version (Bach Choir/Willcocks) and the choral suite derived from VW's opera Sir John in Love, In Windsor Forest (Bournemouth SO/Bournemouth Symphony Choir/ del Mar). Then two real classics, Songs of Travel in its orchestral version with Thomas Allen and On Wenlock Edge with Robert Tear, both with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Simon Rattle (what a shame he hasn't yet recorded the symphonies yet...).
Then we are on to a really good and diverse selection of miscellaneous choral pieces on disc 19, including (among other things) the Mass in G minor (King's College Choir/Willcocks), the Te Deum in G, O taste and see, and two versions of All people that on earth do dwell.
Discs 20 and 21 are devoted to songs - with Ian Patridge taking the palm for his brilliant singing of the Four Hymns (for voice, viola and piano), Merciless Beauty, Ten Blake Songs and On Wenlock Edge (have any of these ever been sung more affectingly?). Anthony Rolfe Johnson then sings The House of Life and the Songs of Travel, the latter in its original voice and piano version.
Discs 23 and 24 contain a variety of oddments, including the London Madrigal Singers in folk songs, Janet Baker singing Linden Lea, and also a choral version of Linden Lea with the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral. Solo-voice folk song arrangements with Robert Tear and Philip Ledger (piano) are on disc 23 - just listen and wonder at How cold the wind doth blow - and this disc is rounded off with Boult conducting VW's post-WW2 commemorative piece, A Song of Thanksgiving.
Disc 24 starts with the cantata Epithalamion (LPO/Bach Choir/Willcocks), and then the rest of the box is devoted to VW's operas - Riders to the Sea (the Meredith Davies version - unequalled), Hugh the Drover (discs 25 and 26 - RPO/Groves), Sir John in Love (discs 27 and 28 - NPO/Meredith Davies) and, if all the rest were not enough, The Pilgrim's Progress in the recording by the LPO with Boult/John Noble, which in my view is the best-ever recorded performance (so far) of this masterpiece, including (at the very end) some rehearsal extracts, which are worth hearing maybe once.
If you have even the vaguest interest in VW, this is unmissable and if you are a fan and don't already have most of these recordings, it is one of the great bargains of our time.
Rating:
- Good value let down by poor presentation.This set of recordings represents good value and an excellent way of obtaining many of Vaughan Williams' works. In my opinion it is let down by several things. Although the set comes in a handsome box, the cds within are in flimsy paper sleeves which soon become damaged with use. The information in the booklet is minimal and at times confusing and there is no biographical note about the composer. There are some pieces that are repeated - albeit in slightly different versions and some glaring omissions. My main critiscism is that the quality of some of the recordings, particularly the choral works, is poor, sometimes so much so as to render them unlistenable. If they had an historic interest that would be forgiveable, but that is not the case. They are digital remasters in many cases but sound as though they were originally recorded on a traffic island in the rush hour.
Rating:
- Excellent valueIf you are looking to buy a complete Vaughan Williams collection in one go, look no further. This is a well packaged box with 30 CDs in envelopes. Takes up about as much room as my old set of VW symphonies. The set includes all the well known VW pieces (Lark Ascending, Greensleeves) and all the symphonies. But some rarities in this set too not available elsewhere. My only quibble - the only information provided is a booklet showing the track listing on each CD, and even then it's not easy to work out who's playing and conducting each piece. I would have appreciated at least some brief notes on the music - especially for the lesser known works - but words for the songs, choral pieces and operas would have been too much to hope for at this price.
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