This page lists all recordings of Symphony No. 2 'A London Symphony', by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) on download (MP3 & FLAC). Generally, more recent releases are listed first. Having made some sketches for a symphonic poem about London, Vaughan Williams was encouraged by George Butterworth to write a full symphony, and adapted these initial sketches into his London Symphony. Vaughan Williams continued to revise the piece for many years, yet for all his changes it remained “the symphony he himself liked best of his nine”, as he told Sir John Barbirolli. Although not strictly programmatic (Vaughan Williams suggested it would have been better titled “Symphony by a Londoner"), the work still depicts various London scenes, including the Westminster chimes, the street cries of flower sellers, and also some of the grimmer aspects of city life. The symphony ends with the rippling of the Thames carrying the audience away from the bustling city. |
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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony
“It was during the summer of 1911 that George Butterworth, whose enchanting 1913 idyll, The Banks of Green Willow, comprises the achingly poignant curtainraiser here, first suggested to Vaughan Williams that he should write a purely orchestral symphony.
VW dug out some sketches h'd made for a symphonic poem about London, while at the same time deriving fruitful inspiration from HG Wells's 1908 novel, Tono-Bungay. Geoffrey Toye gave the successful Queen's Hall premiere in March 1914, and VW subsequently dedicated the score to Butterworth's memory.
Over the next two decades or so, the work underwent three revisions (including much judicious pruning) and was published twice (in 1920 and 1936). In his compelling 1941 recording with the Cincinnati SO, Eugene Goossens employed the 1920 version, which adds about three minutes of music to that definitive 1936 'revised edition'. Now Richard Hickox at long last gives us the chance to hear VW's original, hour-long canvas – and riveting listening it makes too! Whereas the opening movement is as we know it today, the ensuing, expanded Lento acquires an intriguingly mournful, even worldweary demeanour. Unnervingly, the ecstatic full flowering of that glorious E major Largamente idea, first heard at fig F in the final revision, never materialises, and the skies glower menacingly thereafter. Towards the end of the Scherzo comes a haunting episode that Arnold Bax was particularly sad to see cut ('a mysterious passage of strange and fascinating cacophony' was how he described it). The finale, too, contains a wealth of additional material, most strikingly a liturgical theme of wondrous lyrical beauty, and, in the epilogue, a gripping paragraph that looks back to the work's introduction as well as forward to the first movement of A Pastoral Symphony. Sprawling it may be, but this epic conception evinces a prodigal inventiveness, poetry, mystery and vitality that do not pall with repeated hearings. Hickox and the LSO respond with an unquenchable spirit, generous flexibility and tender affection that suit VW's ambitious inspiration to a T, and Chandos's sound is big and bold to match. An essential purchase for anyone remotely interested in British music.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra have come up with a recording that you can cheerfully measure against most others in the catalogue, before you consider its unique extra charms!” John Armstrong, bbc.co.uk, 20th November 2002 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2
“Bakels draws ravishing sounds from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, notably the strings…A thrilling experience…this is a performance to stimulate the ear.” Penguin Guide | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2
A London Symphony is the second of Vaughan Williams's nine symphonies. Premiered in March 1914 on the eve of the Great War, it enshrines all the glittering brilliance of the pre-war world and, in retrospect, is its epitaph. It was the composer's own favourite of his symphonies and he described it as a "Symphony by a Londoner." Although the Symphony is loosely programmatic, it does not represent the physical body of London, but the spirit of a great city. The spirit and movement of dance is central to much of William Mathias's music. Pieces directly inspired by dance include the Dance Overture (1962), the Invocation and Dance (1961) and the present Celtic Dances, written in 1972 to mark the 50th anniversary of Urdd Gobaith Cymru. Mathias's use of dance is not superficial; on the contrary it reminds us that in earlier times dance was associated with religious fervour. The word ‘Celtic’ had many connotations for Mathias when he came to write this piece. He wrote, "the music is intended to evoke an area of feeling largely associated with the mythological past, even though such an idea is here expressed in terms of our own time. Rite and magic, jewelled colours, the spirit of play, wistfulness, lyrical warmth, and (above all) rhythmic vitality - these are all qualities associated with Celtic arts and tradition, and they were present as part of that area of experience which prompted the composition of this work." The National Youth Orchestra of Wales under Owain Arwel Hughes performed both of these works at the Welsh Proms in August 2008 and also at Birmingham Town Hall. “ superbly paced and beautifully sonorous, it was intensely moving and really quite marvelous" (Birmingham Post) “…William Mathias's Celtic Dances proves a very likeable find - tuneful, compact, glintingly colourful (harp, celesta, tubular bells and glockenspiel have plenty to do), rhythmically invigorating… There are four dances, the last of which satisfyingly recycles material heard in the glistening introductory bars, and all are engagingly delivered here by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales under Owain Arwel Hughes.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2009 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Vaughan Williams1908 Centenary Issue 2008
Vaughan Williams: | Symphony No. 2 'A London Symphony' First Recordings, 1923 & 1925 From The 1920 Version |
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | An introduction to Ralph Vaughan Williams
"The performances are excellent." American Record Guide | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Awards 2001
Gramophone Magazine
Penguin Guide
