You will need two recordings of this masterpiece
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Vaughan Williams’ sixth symphony, when done well, is as shattering as any work of its era.
Two recordings have arrived simultaneously, separated by half a century but from the same orchestra…
Read on here.
And here.
In Czech here.
In The Critic here.
A masterpiece, indeed. My two favorite Vaughan Williams symphonies are the third and sixth…polar opposites musically, and both passionate anti-war statements that could have come from no other pen.
I totally agree:
http://www.colinscolumn.com/martyn-brabbins-the-bbc-symphony-orchestra-record-vaughan-williamss-sixth-eighth-symphonies-for-hyperion/
http://www.colinscolumn.com/ica-classics-issues-sir-adrian-boult-conducting-vaughan-williamss-fifth-sixth-symphonies-from-bbc-proms-in-1972-1975/
I streamed the Boult via Quboz. It’s terrific.
The Brabbins will be next when it arrives.
Thank you Norman.
The 1967 Boult recording of the 6th with the New Philharmonia is imo second to none. Early in his career, Boult spent time in Germany studying with Nikisch. Have the influences of that association been discussed? My sense has always been that when on, a 1948 Proms Elgar 1st comes to mind, Boult combined the best aspects of English lyricism with a heft/vitality more commonly associated with the older Central European conductors.