Repertoire: The WORST and BEST Vaughan Williams Sinfonia Antartica (Symphony No. 7)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2021
- Based on a film score depicting the tragic fate of the Scott expedition to the Antarctic, this symphony relies on color, atmosphere, and sonic splendor to make its expressive points. It hasn't been recorded that often--perhaps about a dozen times--with half of the performances being pretty miserable and half sounding very good to excellent. Here's how they rank.
Musical Examples courtesy of Naxos Records
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The Antarctic, the continent itself and the Southern Ocean that surrounds it, are really fascinating. While I was in the Navy, my ship sailed off the coase and on that ocean on several occasions. The exeriences doing this still haunt me as I near what is llikely to be the end years of my life. The Artic Ocean and its land and ice masses, by comparison. are just rotten and brutal and miserably windy and colder than the Antarctic feels. Vaughan Williams captures what makes the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean so special.
Thanks for sharing your personal experiences with us!
RVW is one of the true masters of music. This talk was amazing and if has prompted me to go back into my collection and listen to some of his stuff. My two cycles i own are boult later one and slatkin. I just ordered Previn on Amazon. So much a amazing music to listen to. So little time in all of our lifetimes!! Thank you again for showcasing this true genius of our times.
I was obsessed with this symphony when I first heard it in on vinyl at the public library, back in my high school days in the late 70s. (It was the Boult EMI stereo version.) I remember how wicked cool I thought it was and my opinion on the piece has not changed. Thanks for the great suggestions.
I most love the Vernon Handley version. In that defining third movement, the RLPO uses vibrato, which helps to smooth it over, lessening the impression that this is an orchestra playing. Also the organ is great.
Previn has always been my favorite too, followed by Boult and Slatkin. It's probably my favorite Vaughan Williams symphony because I just love how it captures all those things that you mentioned in this talk. It's just "otherworldly" and so much fun to hear.
My first recording of this work was the Previn. It was so impressive that I never found it necessary to get another.
An absolutely engrossing talk on a remarkable piece of music. A few years ago on an unusually hot day for an English summer I put this symphony on to try and cool down a bit. In all seriousness, it worked, I can remember being literally chilled by it. So with RVW's 150th in 2022 I'm looking forward to further enlightening and entertaining expositions from Mr H - thank you so much for your wise words...
Fascinating. I do love this work, but ultimately I still prefer air conditioning on hot days!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I didn't have the option as my heating was provided by the two horses who lived downstairs - it was a converted hayloft - but the reverse didn't apply, hence the Fan Williams 😁
@@Stibsyt Well then, it's nice to have RVW as HVAC.
I agree with David about the crucial role of the wind machine, whose sound is lonely and desolate - a chilling, yawning chasm of despair. But throughout my half-century of emotional and musical relationship with this haunting work, I have always considered the wordless women's chorus to represent the song of the sirens seeking to lure Ulysses and his sailors to their deaths, the same sirens whose seductive call drew Scott and his companions to their tragic end.
David, your videos are simply wonderful. You set the bar so high for yourself, and always clear it with room to spare! Thank you.
So Cool!!! Can't wait to hear your Film Music videos... Thank you for these INCREDIBLE reviews. You've redefined what a music critic is. We need to project these videos to other planets!!!
What an amazingly engaging talk about the wonderful symphony! I wasn't familiar with RVW's music too much when I heard the Antarctica for the first time but it touched a string and it is one of my all time favorites since then. Also I find amusing a fact that when you were talking about the penguins from the scherzo and the menacing music from the landscape, I knew exactly what passage you meant before the samples started playing, I think it says a lot about evocative ability of this music. Thanks a lot for recommendations, there were some I hadn't known, I'm going to fill the gap now.
Thank you. Have fun!
Another terrific survey video. Thanks for the recommendations…I’ve been looking for one on this work
Unconnected to the context of this video... Being more or less forced by current circumstances to spend more time at home forced me to accidentally- and fortuitously- discover your channel. And watching your videos has rekindled my love for classical music, and given me another source of joy in a world where it is in short supply. Thank you=)
My pleasure. Be well!
Man, good things to come! Looking forward to 2022!
Thank you for another fine video. Vaughan Williams has been a victim of of his admirers as much of his detractors, because many people never move beyond his 'pastoral' works, not realising that some of his music, such as Symphonies nos 4 and 6 and parts of the Sinfonia Antarctica are as dark, violent and/or bleak as any music by Shostakovich.
I do hope you will do more talks on VW's symphonies and other works, especially as it is his 150 anniversary next year, which is a good hook.
I hope you enjoy the holidays and Happy New Year.
Thanks to your talk on Rimsky-Korsakov operas I am going to listen to 'Christmas Eve' tomorrow.
That sounds like a nice holiday treat!
Lots of declamation/narrative passages in the opera, plus a HEAVY use of tritone/augmented 4th harmonies in all of the "diabolical" music (of which there is a lot)..BUT--- Rimsky's "Christmas Eve" contains a wealth of lovely, folk-inflected, delightful music--the famous Polonaise, of course, (w/chorus), the "Dancing Stars & Comets" ballet, Oxana's wistful aria, the mystical procession of the Sun gods Koliada and Ovsen, the Vakula/Oxana duet near the end AND..the final ensemble with chorus (too brief, alas), which I'd nominate as Rimsky's greatest tune of all time. Just gorgeous. Happy listening!
@@HassoBenSoba I agree. Rimsky's treatment of the subject is really much better than Tchaikovsky's who misses the fantasy and whimsy Rimsky brings to it. But he made up for it with Nutcracker.
May I strongly suggest the 150 anniversary issue now available from Gramophone. Beautifully done. Also the excellent dvd on RVW, O Thou Transcendent.
Another great material! I cannot wait for more material about film scores like Poledouris "Conan the Barbarian" (im hope this one will be discussed by you one day), Rozsa "Ben Hur", Herrmann "Jason and Argonauts" and more and more... :) all the best, Michal
Happy to see you're going to talk about film music. One of my favorite composers was Franz Waxman. I love his score for "The Bride of Frankenstein" which was also used in Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers serials.
Fortunately, the Previn CD has the spoken introductions to each movement on separate tracks; so they can be programmed out for the purists among us. Another great video, David.
So glad you did this discussion today! I posted a Winter Solstice message on Tuesday which talked about how this symphony deals with the implacable indifference of nature, which is magnificent and also terrifying, and to be respected. I linked to the Previn recording of the third movement on TH-cam for my readers, so I was pleased to see it was your top choice. Though both Bakels and Slatkin are close contenders-and I do have subwoofers, and headphones with excellent bass response-you are correct that Slatkin can really shake the house with those organ pedal tones. I consult for programming for my local symphony orchestra and convinced them to play this symphony several years ago. It is so rarely performed, and I heard in in Manhattan decades ago live, at one of the Lincoln Center concert halls. They included visuals from a local photographer who had visited Antarctica as an audience draw, and the house was packed. Like you, David, the first time I heard it I was amazed at the awesome sounds conjured here, and it was an LP of the second Boult version I had borrowed from the library, long before CDs. Botstein had programmed it at Bard College with The Orchestra Now, but the pandemic curtailed that season for which I had tickets, and they have yet to reprogram it.
I took the plunge to become an insider and am enjoying the additional content-so, keep the intelligent reviews flowing!
Thanks very much!
Exciting to hear about 2022 reviews of film scores: oh you could spend an entire year on Steiner, Herrmann, Raksin, Korngold, Goldsmith, Williams and Elfman. Just to start! I can't wait for 2022, Dave!
My favorite of RVW's symphonies. Stumbled across this by accident. Bravo!
There's an interesting cd of the complete music written for Scott of the Antarctic including a large amount which was left out of the finished film. It is on Dutton and is performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It's a fine recording and presents music which ended up in the 7th symphony but didn't make it to the film. It's about 80 minutes long so is almost double the official length of the soundtrack. Unusually it seems Vaughan Williams wrote the score before the film was ready so in many cases the film was cut to suit the music rather than the music conforming to the film. As part of the reconstruction of the complete original score from which this recording came the reconstructed score is also available. The only problem following the score with the CD is there are a couple of short pieces on the CD which are of doubtful attribution to VW so don't appear in the book score and a few pieces in the middle of the CD have been reordered to make it run better so one can get a bit lost for a little bit jumping around.
Don’t forget. Chandos’s recording of his film music.
Excellent observation during your section on Bryden Thomson about interpretations sounding natural and organic rather than sounding like instruments in a space. I've always used this idea as well while listening. Glad to see it expressed here.
You are right! Now is the time for this symphony. I shall listen to the Previn or Slatkin, pronto. Thanks David.
Wonderful presentation, Dave! Thank you! One of the most effective nature "ingredients" that Vaughan-Williams uses is the vocalise - the wordless soprano or
wordless choir, which for me embody the Devas (nature Beings) and Angels of Nature. These great Beings are present in such works as the Sym. 7, the final movement
of Sym. 3 where we hear the haunting angelic wordless voice of the soprano, Oxford Elegy (wordless choir).and Flos Campi. I even notice recently a choral arrangement
of Lark Ascending. All these examples of including the presence of nature Beings demonstrate RVW's great love of animals, trees and the kingdoms of nature (earth, fire, water and air).Notice also his great love of cats. He was a composer passionately in love with life in all its many dimensions and embodiments of Spirit.
I was going to ask how the new Andrew Davis performance was and then I looked up the review on classics today.
PLEASE do more Vaughan Williams, and please do Belshazzar’s Feast!!!!
Dave - thanks for spending time on RVW, a much under-appreciated composer in the US...looking forward to your review of Symphony 8 (unique, large instrumentation, and with some really cool melodies) as well as The Lark Ascending (how to choose among the dozens of recordings???).
I'm happy to say that my enthusiasm for Sinfonia Antartica survived my knowing it from the Haitink recording. I will try to find another from your recommendations.
Happy to hear you'll be talking about film music. These days I'm exploring Shostakovich byways, including his film music and ballets. I'm struggling a bit, in both genres he can be fairly unremittingly brash, a sort of mix of Soviet military band music and jazz. I'm hoping to hear what you make of it.
You've described it very well, actually!
I recall seeing the film on TV as a child in the 1960's. The score was the most disturbing and eerie piece of music I have ever heard.
Egads David, you know your Vaughan Williams. Previn always the standard bearer for Vaughan Williams for decades.
Dear David Hurwitz, To my joy, today I saw your comment about the symphony number 7 by Vaughan Williams. I want to say a huge thank you for the wonderful story and explanation of the music! The recording I heard is the mono recording you mentioned from DECCA with Boult! It was unusual to hear that the recording begins with words, and not with music. Now it is clear that the composer himself intended this! I will try to find a recording of this music with Kees Bakels from Naxos. I am very glad that there is such a wonderful channel on TH-cam! I am writing to you from Russia, from the city of Yekaterinburg and interesting musicians often come to our Philharmonic hall. For example, recently the British conductor Oliver Zeffman and cellist Daniel Muller-Schott came to us. Thanks! Subscribed to the channel
Уважаемый Дэвид Гурвиц! К своей радости я сегодня увидел ваш комментарий о симфонии номер 7 Vaughan Williams. Хочу сказать огромное спасибо за чудесный рассказ и пояснение к музыке! Запись которую услышал я, это упомянутая Вами моно запись от DECCA с Boult! Необычно было услышать, что начинается запись со слов, а не с музыки. Теперь ясно, что так задумал сам композитор! Постараюсь найти запись этой музыки с Kees Bakels от Naxos. Очень рад, что есть такой прекрасный канал на ютубе! Я Вам пишу из России, из города Екатеринбурга и в нашу филармонию часто приезжают интересные музыканты. Так например, недавно к нам приезжал Британский дирижёр Оливер Зеффман виолончелист Даниэль Мюллер-Шотт. Спасибо! Подписался на канал
Welcome aboard! Thank you for writing.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Спасибо Вам! У меня в архиве есть запись концерта в котором играли дирижёр Оливер Зеффман и виолончелист Даниэль Мюллер-Шотт. Вам запись этого концерта интересна, или же Вы слушаете только то, что на фирменных CD дисках? Пишу Вам об этом, поскольку программа концерта была более чем интересна:
Уолтон. Концерт для виолончели с оркестром
Воан-Уильямс. Фантазия на тему Томаса Таллиса
Бёртуисл. Триумф времени
Особенно интересно, что Вы думаете по поводу сочинения британского композитора Бёртуисла "Триумф времени"
Спасибо!🤝
thank you! I have in my archive a recording of a concert in which conductor Oliver Zeffman and cellist Daniel Muller-Schott played. Are you interested in recording this concert, or do you listen only to what is on branded CDs? I am writing to you about this, because the concert program was more than interesting:
Walton. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Vaughan-Williams. Fantasy on the theme of Thomas Tallis
Bertwistle. The Triumph of Time
It is especially interesting what you think about the composition of the British composer Bertwistle "The Triumph of Time"
Thank you!🤝
@@user-zd9rw1cc9n I am usually only interested in reviewing recordings that are generally available on established labels so that viewers/readers have access to them, and to keep things relatively organized. Today there are millions of concert videos, pirate recordings, and live versions of everything, and someone will also love one of them, but my interest is in creating a community consensus around a core repertoire, so I won't deal with that stuff. As to Birtwistle, I have never enjoyed him much.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks for the answer! It is very nice that there is feedback! This music is new to me! Thank you and I am very glad that I subscribed to your channel! All the best to you!
Just discovered your channel, a great treat! For years I have been listening to a live version with Haitink and was none the wiser. Really going to go and check out the Previn and other ones you recommended. The Antartica is one of my favorite symphonies ever and I also discovered it on the radio (I was supposed to be getting groceries but just sat in the car until it was over to find out what it was). I really like your idea of discussing film scores! It isn't done quite enough on TH-cam, and I think you should really look at the likes of Bernard Herrmann and Korngold, who both had their share of concert music. I do my own videos on film scores on my channel, check those out if you'd like. Keep up the good work!
Fully agree with Brian Copp here. The "alien landscape" and otherwordly qualities of the piece is what makes the "Antartica" such an appealing work to me, along with Arnold's 7th and Bax's 2nd. I've the "good" Boult and the "bassy" Slatkin, but not familiar with Previn's (love his version of Poulenc's "Organ Concerto", by the way). Will listen to it tonight after work. I may not be British composers' biggest fan*, but this one is a real masterpiece, quite the experience, and anything but a concerto for wind machines. Great choice for a grey sky, bare trees, chilly 23rd of December
* but a huge fan of British film scores - Bennett's soundtrack to "Far From the Madding Crowd". And then, there's "Kes" (John Cameron), Vernon Elliott's music to "Clangers", "Virgin Witch" by Dicks (pun not intended), Basil Kirchin's work for the cinema. I stop here. There's loads! I guess we'll have quite "The Conversation" next year...
The Sinfonia Antartica is one of the truly great choral symphonies of the 20th century. I imprinted on the EMI Boult recording first and it is easy to argue it's never been bested. Sir Adrian and the LPO sound like they were born to play this music, down to the note. Kees Backels is also icily bracing and a stern rebuttal to those who used to claim Naxos was an acoustically flawed label. That CD may be cheating a bit because it is paired with such a phenomenal 8th. For the Russophile oddball, Rozhedestvensky's Antartica with the USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra is a pretty darn good sleeper. Noddy and his forces get the idea well even if the sound is less than crisp.
I agree with you on Boult, especially since it is coupled with that most fun VW Suite from “the Wasps!”
Sorry, but Choral? There is no chorus! Just a wordless soprano
@@leslieackerman4189 yes, misspoke, or rather mistyped. Symphonies including vocal parts is what I was shooting for.
I have four versions - But Yah ! - The Previn - That's the one I always return to. Now I know why
I have to give the Haitink version a little credit in that it was first recording I ever heard that introduced me to RVW’s symphonies when I was a kid. However, Slatkin’s version is the definitive one for me.
When the organ sounds & one can almost see that giant piece of ice crashing into the ocean gives me, anyway, an Antarctic chill that
not even the film itself can provide. SINFONIA ANTARTICA is high on my list of Desert Island Vaughan-Williams classics. One recording I have by Andre Previn & another from Leonard Slatkin, another fine conductor of Vaughan-Williams, are suitably moving & chilling. Pun Intended!
I ordered the DVD of the movie. It's in PAL format and not NTSC so it only plays on my desktop computer. From the DVD booklet : "Having one of Britain's greatest living composers contribute to what was seen as tribute to a national hero provided a fitting tribute ... Vaughan Williams' score played a vital role in unifying the film, binding together all its diverse elements."
What diverse elements? It's about snow.
Will you be doing RVW’s London Symphony? That’s a personal favorite.
Sure.
In complete agreement with you about Kees Bakel’s version on Naxos. From the outset, you really do feel the ice, and the predatory power of nature.
And, later on, great penguins!
A terrific video Dave and really looking forward to you completing the whole cycle! I though disagree with your final choice of the Previn. For me, one of the greatest moments of the symphony is the end of the third movement when we hear the full organ. The organ in Previn’s recording just does not deliver and what’s more does something really strange by going suddenly quiet just before the orchestral crescendo. This idiosyncrasy robs the music of its tension at a vital moment and sadly puts the Previn recording out of the running. The recording that most delivers for me is the stereo Boult, which I don’t think has ever been surpassed.
Please do the VW 8th. Wonderfully colorful orchestration and nicely formed. Short….never wears out its welcome. And the finale is amazing.
Great news the film music adventure!!!! Thank you so much
I was lucky enough to discover the Previn version of Sinfonia Antartica by accident when I was a teenager. So that was the only recording of it I knew until the internet came along. No other version quite cuts it for me because I came across the best one first. The wind machine is also the most expressive and well balanced in this version, I think.
The Slaktin set is unavailable in UK or Qobuz unfortunately ☹️ the Bakels sounds great so far. Thanks for the reviews. It's a real treat to followup on all your suggestions.
Who can forget the Prologue and speech of Sir Ralph?
I got two , oddly I like the version of Bernard Haitink, and Bryden Thomson .
The Boult 1953 Seventh, Belart release, was what got me through COVID.
I have both the Slatkin and Backels recordings. But I also have the Andrew Davis on Chandos (found it used). I got it for the Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra . I don't know - when I put that disc in my Yamaha sacd player, it sounds awfully darn good to me! Since I don't have 5.1 surround sound, I make certain that the player is set to 'two channel sacd' mode. It makes a huge difference.
Glad to hear that the Previn recording (from way back in '67) is your top choice. It's the only recording I have of this work, which I'm sorry to say seems WAY too long and overblown for its basic musical material. Brilliantly orchestrated and evocative, yes...but not much else to recommend. Still, I listened with great interest and attention to your thoughts about it. And I still might sample the Bakels version, especially since his 8th sounds really good. LR
When Previn was appointed to the LSO there were a lot of raised eyebrows in the UK. Most of it was anti-Hollywood snobbishness. Some of it anti-American. Who the hell was this bloke to get such a top job? As it turned out he was one of the best things to happen to British music. The general public loved him. A breath of fresh air. His LSO/RCA recording period was superb. A magnificent VW cycle for sure in very good sound. I personally like the Ralph Richardson narrations. It adds to the atmosphere.
Kubrick used the LANDSCAPE movement to block out the Star Gate sequence at the end of 2OOl: A SPACE ODYSSEY before using Ligeti in the final cut. The RVW works superbly!
John Williams must have had the sound of this score in mind when he was composing and orchestrating the celesta theme for Harry Potter theme. Not to mention ET. And Paul Sawtell's theme for the 60s TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea can be heard in this symphony's 3rd movt, Landscape And later you can hear the influence on the 3rd movement of Adams's Harmonielehre in the use of high piano and winds. Marvellous scores all.
I've never paid any attention to this work, but listening to it now I am struck at how much in it appears to have been drawn on by Jerry Goldsmith for his fine score to the dreadful 1979 movie "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Vast and alien indeed.
Dave, first, Merry Christmas, second, have you ever done a The Magic Flute comparison? I'd like to see one if you have not. Cheers young sir.
Not yet! Happy Holidays to you too.
I love Vaughan Williams but I've never heard (or even heard OF) the Sinfonia Antartica.
If it had just been recommended to me, I likely would have chosen one of the 'bad' recordings - Adrian Boult, Andrew Davis. Barbirolli-Halle (I lived in Manchester in the 1960s and loved the Halle with Barbirolli!). So thanks for this. I would probably have gone wrong in my choice!
You're in for a treat!
I collected the Previn & Boult cycles as they came out, loved both sets, I think Previn has the edge in this one. I also have the Slatkin set and do think it is up there with the best. I was very dissapointed with the Haitink. Cheers from Australia.
I believe that Tippett 4 can be considered a kind of 'sequel' to this symphony - the 'breathing' effect in both is obvious but at a deeper emotional level also.
I disagree. Totally.
Can you say why, Dave?@@DavesClassicalGuide
Speaking of film music, I feel Bernard Herrmann was heavily influenced by and indebted to this symphony in his Journey to the Center of the Earth music. (The Fantasy World of BH is still one of my favorite film albums.) And let's not forget Verdi way back in 1850 who invented the wordless moaning chorus representing the implacable ominous forces of nature's winds in Rigoletto.
I agree with your top three Antartica choices, btw
Interestingly, that Koss recording of the Antarctica by Raymond Leppard was my introduction to RVW back in the nineties, and I've been hooked ever since, collecting a number of recordings, and spoken parts have never bothered me one bit, neither there nor in the Previn or elsewhere.
I have the recording on Chandos of Scott and the Antarctic. Very recommendable. Dave, what edition of that score you have?
Oxford, I think.
@@DavesClassicalGuide ah thank you! I’ll be looking that up!
It is a very weird and interesting piece. I guess it is one of those works that are more talked about and somehow acknowledged for being remarkable than actually listened to. I think one should basically approach it as a modernist piece: Much of what RVW achieved here is actually surprisingly similar to things that e.g. Varèse or Ligeti (in pieces like Atmosphères) achieved - only they did it using an atonal, resolutely modernist language, when RVW got there using a late romantic idiom.
Ah yes, the LSO/Previn, is my favourite recording. I have the set which is an all round very recommendable set>
If you are going to be looking at film music, may I suggest a few scores? First is one that may already be on your list: Salter and Dessau's *'House of Frankenstein'* (Marco Polo/Naxos). It's a rich Late Romantic blancmange, enriched by leitmotifs for the main characters (the film itself is bonkers - I love it). Next is Goldenthal's *'Interview with the Vampire'* - very dark music that makes occasional use of early instruments and a boy chorus. Third: *'Starship Troopers',* by Basil Poledouris. Swashbuckling adventure with some strong tunes. Finally, my most questionable selection, the soundtrack to *'Dune'* by the rock band Toto! In fact, the music was mostly written by David Paitch, whose father was a Hollywood composer - he assisted with the scoring and conducting.
Marco Polo is not problem, but for the rest I'd never get copyright clearance (for TH-cam anyway). I appreciate the suggestions though.
What about "Krull"? "2001" is not bad either and contains the best and most memorable thing R. Strauss ever wrote. Tease aside, I love British film scores: "Kes", "The Snow Goose", "Far from the Madding Crowd" (Richard Rodney Bennett), "The Wickerman" etc etc and Basil Kirchin film scores. Merry Christmas
David, two questions:
A) Are you going to spotlight Biegel's "A Steinway Christmas Album"? Mr. Carr gave it a 10/10 & it's really special. So special, you could play it in the hottest day of summer and feel the Christmas spirit.
B) Do you intend to review the new Lazic arrangement of Brahms' 3rd Piano Concerto (derived from the Violin Concerto) on Channel Classics?
Happy listening!
I don't think so, but we'll see.
Re: Film Scores - Biggest problem for us listeners may be that they’re often difficult to find on CD, especially from smaller, obscure labels. Still looking for Antheil’s “The Pride and the Passion”
Spanish themed score.
@@jerrygennaro7587 Yes, "P&P" is one of the great film scores of all time, and possibly Antheil's BEST work of all. The couple of CD releases it has had are transfers of the original monophonic Capitol LP from '57. Very dim and cramped sound. Too bad. LR
Why not do Weinberger's "Schwanda" Act II-- or at least the famous FUGUE..all of which takes place in HELL. Perfect for the hottest day of summer.
The glacier bit reminds me of similar sections in Jan Zimmer's unbelieveable symphonic suite "Tatra Mountains"... if you haven't heard it yet, you really should!
Thanks for the recommendation.
I much prefer versions without the narration, though. The music is amazing! Not Antarctic related, but I would like to suggest a talk on Japanese composer TAKASHI YOSHIMATSU who's has written 5 Symphonies and other orchestra works and who has been sponsored by Chandos under conductor Sachio Fujioka with the BBC Philharmonic (I know...). Thank you Dave!
There's an interesting (I'm not saying anyway near as musically convincing as Sinfonia Antarctica) recording of the film score on Chandos ( Merryn Gamba (soprano)
BBC Philharmonic, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Rumon Gamba) as it includes interesting thematic material not in the Sinfonia itself. Cheers
I like a lot of things that suck...including the Andrew Davis recording! I admit it. The Slatkin is a favorite, but I suppose it's time to get the Previn. I've never heard any of his set.
Unusual choice for december 23rd. But somehow I just wanted to point out that you should do this 😐it is hard to find any further explanation to this work
Really? What's unusual about December 23rd?
It seems pretty topical to me... the weather's distinctly chilly where I am ;)
You’re right, because in fact it’s summer now in Antarctica 😝 (Sorry. Just fooling with you guys)
Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere! It does exist!
@@adrianosbrandao Summer solstice in Antarctica is December 21.
@@johnfowler7660 that’s what I said
I think VW studied with Ravel for a while. I wonder if he influenced VW’s orchestration.
That was what he was studying.
I have another listing for the "Not so good" list Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool P. O. on the Onyx label. There are a couple of odd choices
in the performance One of them is having the Soprano soloists being right up with the orchestra, Not sound at all mysterious or ethereal. I actually like the Barbirolli, Halle recording now on Warner Classics. As for the Previn recording I agree it cannot be beat.
I posted me CT.com review of the Manze in these comments. I agree with you.
RVW's 7th, one of my favorites but I have to take it in small doses, lol. Though I gotta take issue with you on the second movement. It's about whales, not penguins. RVW even tells you so in the superscript for the movement, taken from from Psalms 104:26: "There go the ships, and there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein." For me, the passage you played paints a sound picture of a whale swimming down to the mysterious depths of the ocean, and the horn motif is about those enormous fins flapping back and forth as it descends.
Sorry, it's about penguins (or at least the second half of the movement is). I don't care what the superscript says. The music speaks for itself.
But of course. À chacun son goût, monsieur.
Well there you have it, folks. You have witnessed the birth of The Great Whale/Penguin Controversy, lol. What say you? Your vote counts.
Can’t help but wonder what Richard Hickox would have made of 7, had he lived.
The rest he did do were pretty awful, so I'm not curious to find out.
Can you Pleeeeeeez do a best VW no 5?…
That's an interesting call. I hesitate to do all the RVW symphonies because I'm afraid the videos will all look the same--running through the same symphony boxes by the usual half dozen or so characters, with maybe one or two singleton versions thrown in, but I'll give it some thought. Perhaps if I space them out at long enough intervals...such a beautiful work!
@@DavesClassicalGuide great!… am conducting it in November👍😱
It's always bothered me that this symphony has a chorus representing the eerie moaning of the wind -- but then also has a wind machine. Surely one of these is redundant! I think the symphony could be performed without the wind machine, with no real loss to the artistic experience. And it might help the work get away from the "movie music" accusations.
Anyway, Previn and Bakels are my faves, with spoken parts always omitted.
The wind machine is essential--you can't have one without the other. It's a composite sonority.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Indeed!!!!!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I agree. The wind machine is essential - lonely, desolate, a chilling, yawning chasm of despair. But throughout my half-century of emotional and musical relationship with this haunting work, I have always considered the wordless women's chorus to represent the song of the sirens seeking to lure Ulysses and his sailors to their deaths.
David, your videos are simply wonderful. You set the bar so high for yourself, and always clear it with room to spare! Thank you.
The Haitink won a gramophone award I think. Always preferred American music criticism 😁
It's not "American." It's competent. Period.
Can't agree that the Finale is the weakest movement---surely that's the 4th movement. It's essentially the love theme from the film and, as a lover of classic film music, I'd say it's one of the weakest love themes I've heard. Why VW thought it worthy of a whole movement I can't imagine, especially as there is much dramatic music in the film not included in the symphony. I'm not actually a huge lover of the 7th; I find it wears out its thematic welcome quite quickly, though I do agree that Previn's is definitely the best version. In fact I'd go so far as to say I prefer Previn in pretty much all the symphonies. As an example, I wasn't able to come to terms with the 1st movement of the 8th until I heard Previn; even Boult didn't clarify it for me.
It's a very characteristic RVW love them, similar to that in Flos Campi and elsewhere. I think that movement is very effective in its context, coming between the "Landscape" and the dark finale. I can't imagine one following the other directly, having heard the alternative.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Actually that's how I always play them--I omit the 4th movement altogether. Heresy, I know, but there it is. For me the Finale is the highlight.
Flos Campi I don't care for. My favourite VW is a piece you're possibly not familiar with: the orchestral transcription of the Suite For Brass Band. To me that contains the very essence of VW. (Oh, and I love the Piano Concerto too).
A big framing element in the film are the scenes of letters being written and read by Scott and his devoted wife back in England, so whatever the quality of said theme, there is reason for a love theme to be in it.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge Take your point, but what's relevant to the plot of a film isn't necessarily justified in a symphony unless the strength of the music supports it, which to me this piece does not. If you listen to the re-recorded film score you find some quite powerful dramatic music which never found it's way into the symphony. I remember hearing it for the first time and wondering why VW excluded it in favor of the rather meandering love theme. For that matter, I'm not sure this symphony is the better for having 5 movements. In my programmable CD player it only has 3---penguins be damned. :)
@@pp312 I think a point is being missed about the 4th movement. The film score dates to around the time of Adeline Vaughan Williams final illness & death. It seems to me to be a poignant look back to the world of 1911/12 before the cataclysm of WW1, Scott's images of home & his wife seems to have triggered something that was on RVW's mind, (An Oxford Elegy another work written around the same time as the film score, also has a rather wistful feel to it). To me the movement is a reflection if images of a different human world of 40 years earlier & friends lost distantly recalled by the composer, before the return to the inhospitable world in the finale finally banishes it for ever.