Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

“No one else conveys that sense of dignified but profound suffering Adrian Boult sees and focuses so admirably in the Second Movement and finale of his 1949 recording.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008

“Although it was Boult who premiered VW's awesome Sixth Symphony, his white-hot February 1949 account with the LSO wasn't in fact the work's début recording – that honour fell to Stokowski and the New York Philharmonic (who pipped their British counterparts to the post by just two days). The return to the catalogue of Boult's legendary version – last available on an identically programmed Great Recordings of the Century anthology (EMI) – is a cause for celebration, especially in such a vivid transfer (if fractionally hollow in the bass), and so modestly priced to boot. Like Stokowski's scarcely less thrilling realisation, the performance offers us the opportunity to hear VW's original Scherzo. This has been allotted a separate track at the end of the symphony, its place taken by the same team's February 1950 recording of the composer's revision (not an ideal arrangement, perhaps). Whether the performance as a whole entirely displaces Sir Adrian's marvellous 1953 Decca version with the LPO (available in a disappointingly rough transfer on Belart) is open to debate, but both interpretations comprehensively outflank Sir Adrian's New Philharmonia stereo remake for EMI in terms of fiery concentration and sheer guts.
Written in response to a commission from the BBC in 1943 for a work to celebrate the defeat of Hitler's Germany, A Song of Thanksgiving was first broadcast shortly after VE Day. This commercial recording followed in December 1951.
The work (which is scored for soprano, narrator, chorus and orchestra) has a smattering of decent invention (including, from around 4'30", fleeting echoes of the Sixth's second movement), but overall it's hardly representative of VW at his most inspired.
Last, and certainly not least, comes a wholly cherishable account (from October 1952) of TheLark Ascending, with Jean Pougnet a wonderfully silky toned, humane soloist. Boult's accompaniment, too, is a model of selfless dedication and intuitive rapture. For some, it remains, quite simply, the most tenderly unaffected and profoundly moving Lark on disc, though the string timbre on that earlier EMI restoration is much preferable to this over-processed newcomer.
None the less, a most valuable VW reissue.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Vividly realised performance......colourful sound confirm this to be among Naxos's finest-ever discs.” Classic CD *****

“William Boughton imparts tremendous zest to VW's Wasps Overture, fully in keeping with its breezy nature, and he gives the big central tune its true nobility. Michael Bochmann, I note, was a pupil of the late Frederick Grinke, whose recording of The lark ascending must have introduced this ravishing piece to many readers of GRAMOPHONE, as it did to me. Bochmann plays it like his teacher, with unaffected ease and a natural appreciation of its poetry. His tone is pure and steady, even at the stratospheric height to which the lark takes him. The recording has the customary Nimbus fidelity.” Gramophone Magazine, February 1990

“William Boughton imparts tremendous zest to VW's Wasps Overture, fully in keeping with its breezy nature, and he gives the big central tune its true nobility. Michael Bochmann, I note, was a pupil of the late Frederick Grinke, whose recording of The lark ascending must have introduced this ravishing piece to many readers of GRAMOPHONE, as it did to me. Bochmann plays it like his teacher, with unaffected ease and a natural appreciation of its poetry. His tone is pure and steady, even at the stratospheric height to which the lark takes him. The recording has the customary Nimbus fidelity.” Gramophone Magazine, February 1990

“Character is one thing that Boughton’s performances could not be accused of wanting. The two works, recorded earlier, which include wind instruments have plenty of individuality...[In The Lark] Michael Bochmann is set slightly back in the recorded acoustic. This lends his playing a nicely distanced romantic quality but the resulting sound is a bit thin for music which we are used to hearing with a more romantic ardour.” Musicweb International, August 2012

“Sir Andrew lives and breathes this music as to the manner born and takes his beloved BBC SO on a moving journey from shadowy darkness to blazing light. With sumptuous sound (and at a bargain price) this is easily the best "modern" version in the catalogue.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“... beautifully recorded” The Listener