Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 8

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

[Jurowski] keeps sonority and expression taut, yet in a way that gives the orchestra time to play. They respond superbly, alighting on the music's idiom - the 80-year-old Vaughan Williams's wryly... — BBC Music Magazine, Awards Issue 2015, 3 out of 5 stars/5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Feb 2015
Catalogue No: LPO0082
Label: LPO
Length: 59 minutes

Building A Library

May 2022

Also Recommended

Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days

British Music - up to 25% off

Special offer ends: 08/05/2024

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4 in F minor

Work length30:53

$4.60

$7.15

$8.80

Ryan Wigglesworth, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Recording Venue: Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Allegro

Track length7:59

$1.20

$1.95

$2.40

II. Andante moderato

Track length9:37

$1.20

$1.95

$2.40

III. Scherzo. Allegro molto

Track length5:04

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

IV. Finale con Epilogo Fugato. Allegro moderato

Track length8:13

$1.20

$1.95

$2.40

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 8 in D minor

Work length28:33

$4.60

$7.15

$8.80

Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Recording Venue: Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Fantasia (Variazioni senza Thema)

Track length11:14

$1.40

$2.60

$3.20

II. Scherzo alla Marcia (per stromenti a fiato)

Track length3:32

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

III. Cavatina (per stromenti ad arco)

Track length8:52

$1.20

$1.95

$2.40

IV. Toccata

Track length4:55

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, on 24 September 2008 (Symphony No. 8) and 1 May 2013 (Symphony No. 4).

Vaughan Williams was one of the 20th century’s most important symphonic voices. He composed in almost every genre, and even within his nine symphonies he encompassed a wide range of styles, sound-worlds and formal approaches.

At its 1935 premiere the Fourth Symphony surprised many who were more used to the ‘pastoral’ sound of his earlier symphonies. Yet fellow British composer William Walton admired the work greatly, speaking of it as ‘the greatest symphony since Beethoven’. The Eighth is the shortest of the composer’s symphonies, and much more light-hearted and joyous in mood. At the same time, it too is full of remarkable invention, especially the composer’s experiments in orchestral colour.

Vladimir Jurowski has a strong affinity with British music, having embraced (both in concert and on the LPO Label) Britten, Holst and increasingly Vaughan Williams, as well as contemporary British composers such as Mark-Anthony Turnage and Julian Anderson.

Ryan Wigglesworth is the leading composer/conductor of his generation. He works with leading orchestras internationally and is currently English National Opera’s Composer in Residence. He has a formidable pedigree with British repertoire including Birtwistle’s The Minotaur at Covent Garden and Knussen’s Higglety Pigglety Pop! at Aldeburgh, and has already introduced a host of British music, including the Sky Arts Award-winning world premiere of Julian Anderson’s The Discovery of Heaven with the LPO. This performance was released on the LPO label in 2013 with The Crazed Moon and the world premiere recording of Fantasias, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. The disc was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice and a finalist in their 2014 Awards.

Both these Vaughan Williams symphonies were recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall. The Symphony No. 4 concert in May 2013 was part of Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise year-long festival of 20th-century music, inspired by Alex Ross’s bestselling book of the same name.

Reviews

Awards Issue 2015

[Jurowski] keeps sonority and expression taut, yet in a way that gives the orchestra time to play. They respond superbly, alighting on the music's idiom - the 80-year-old Vaughan Williams's wryly imaginative take on his own earlier style - with unerring touch and precision.

7th February 2015

both symphonies are well played and recorded.

May 2015

Both conductors…make a strong case for these symphonies…Wigglesworth's Fourth arrives with a roar but the outrage is in the remorseless drive; Jurowski suggests parallels with Rachmaninov's The Bells in the tintinnabulations of the Eighth.

20th March 2015

Jurowski’s account of the Eighth is well judged and paced, without ever really revealing why he should have chosen to conduct that particular symphony, but it’s Ryan Wigglesworth’s performance of the Fourth that really makes the disc worthwhile. The precision of the London Philharmonic’s playing is the starting point for a reading of tremendous power and authority.

Offer,Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 8

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue