Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 - Divine Art: DDV24135 - CD or download

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…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…... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2009 More…

Release Date: 16th Feb 2009
Catalogue No: DDV24135
Label: Divine Art
Series: Diversions
Length: 58 minutes

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Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 2 'A London Symphony'

Work length44:49

$11.00

$14.15

National Youth Orchestra of Wales
Owain Arwel Hughes

I. Lento - Allegro risoluto

Track length14:12

$3.00

$3.85

II. Lento

Track length10:44

$3.00

$3.85

III. Scherzo. Nocturne - Allegro vivace

Track length7:58

$2.00

$2.60

IV. Andante con moto

Track length11:55

$3.00

$3.85

Mathias: Celtic Dances, Op. 60

Work length13:54

$4.00

$5.20

National Youth Orchestra of Wales
Owain Arwel Hughes

I. Allegro vivace

Track length4:00

$1.00

$1.30

II. Allegro leggiero

Track length3:01

$1.00

$1.30

III. Andante con moto

Track length3:44

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Allegro con slancio

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.30

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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)

Reviews

March 2009

…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.

Offer,Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2

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