Vaughan Williams Live, Vol. 3 (Live) [2022 Remastered Version] London Symphony & Philharmonic Orchestra, BBS Symphony Orchestra and Chorus & Ralph Vaughan Williams

• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958): Symphony No. 2 "London":
• 1Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": Ia. Lento - Allegro risoluto04:40
• 2Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": Ib. —04:47
• 3Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": Ic. —03:35
• 4Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": IIa. Lento01:29
• 5Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": IIb. —04:45
• 6Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": IIc. —03:22
• 7Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": III. Scherzo07:10
• 8Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": IVa. Finale05:00
• 9Williams: Symphony No. 2 "London": IVb. —05:13
• Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere):
• 10Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): Ia. Preludio [Live]05:07
• 11Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): Ib. — [Live]05:05
• 12Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): Ic. — [Live]00:52
• 13Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): II. Scherzo [Live]04:02
• 14Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): IIIa. Romanza [Live]04:11
• 15Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): IIIb. — [Live]05:13
• 16Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): IVa. Passacaglia [Live]05:08
• 17Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943 World Premiere): IVb. — [Live]04:01
• Symphony No. 5 in D Major:
• 18Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major: I. Preludio (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]11:47
• 19Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major: II. Scherzo (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]05:05
• 20Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major: III. Romanza (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]10:09
• 21Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major: IV. Passacaglia (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]10:18
• Dona Nobis Pacem:
• 22Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: I. Lento (2022 Remastered Version)03:23
• 23Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: II. Allegro moderato (2022 Remastered Version)03:59
• 24Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: III. Reconciliation (2022 Remastered Version)06:39
• 25Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: IV. Dirge for Two Veterans (2022 Remastered Version)10:00
• 26Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: V. L'istesso tempo (2022 Remastered Version)03:06
• 27Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem: V. Poco animato (2022 Remastered Version)07:21
• Total Runtime02:25:27

Info for Vaughan Williams Live, Vol. 3 (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]

SOMM RECORDINGS celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with Vaughan Williams Live, Volume 3, featuring signature works conducted by the composer including the 1943 world premiere of his Fifth Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. All performances on this double-album set have been expertly restored and re-mastered by Lani Spahr.

Recorded during the BBC Proms, the Fifth Symphony is among live performances recorded off the air by engineer Kenneth Leech held in the British Library. Begun under the shadow of mounting fears of war in Europe, it is illuminated by Vaughan Williams’ relationship with his second wife-to-be, Ursula Wood and served, as biographer Simon Heffer’s booklet note says, as “a reminder of the pre-war England in which the composer’s soul and creative spirit remained”. Also from the Leech Collection, the London Symphony Orchestra’s 1946 Proms account of A London Symphony (No.2), is an “historic performance of one of his greatest and most enduring works”.

A Gramophone Award-winner in 2008 and newly re-mastered for reissue with this celebratory set, the LPO also feature in the Fifth Symphony from 1952, coupled with a 1936 Dona Nobis Pacem by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists, soprano Renée Flynn and baritone Roy Henderson.

Volume 1 of Vaughan Williams Live (SOMM Ariadne 5016) was hailed by All About the Arts as “beautifully remastered [and] sounding like pure gold” and was The Symphonist’s Record of the Week. SOMM’s Vaughan Williams recordings include the “compelling” (International Piano) The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia (SOMMCD 0164).

Lani Spahr’s acclaimed SOMM restorations include Elgar Rediscovered (SOMMCD 0167) and four-disc Elgar Remastered (SOMMCD 261-4) – “a fascinating achievement which will have you wishing for more” (Audiophilia). Volume 3 of Elgar from America (SOMM Ariadne 5015-2) was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice declaring Spahr’s “superb audio restorations bring the performances fully to life”.

Renee Flynn, soprano
Roy Henderson, baritone
BBC Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Ralph Vaughan Williams, conductor

Ralph Vaughan Williams
(born 12.10.1872, Down Ampney, Gloucestershire; † 26.8.1958, London) gave significant impulses to modern English music both as a scientist and as a composer. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the son of a vicar and, after his father's early death, grew up with his aunt, who also gave him his first music lessons. Serious studies led him to the Royal College of Music in 1890, then to Trinity College in Cambridge. He became friends with Gustav Holst, took lessons with Max Bruch in Berlin in 1897 and first worked as an organist. Fascinated by the power of folk music, Vaughan Williams began collecting and editing English songs ("Bushes and Briars", 1903). At about the same time, he discovered the music of the Tudor period and especially Henry Purcell, whose oeuvre was to have a great influence on his own compositional work in the years that followed.

Ralph Vaughan Williams' first comprehensive work was A Sea Symphony (1910), a cantata for choir, orchestra and soloists with texts by Walt Whitman. Shortly before, he had taken lessons with Maurice Ravel in Paris and had been introduced to the impressionist sound world. Vaughan Williams became a composition teacher at the Royal College of Music in London in 1919, directed the Bach Choir in 1920-28 and subsequently travelled internationally as a lecturer, composer and conductor. His commitment to German emigrants during the Nazi era meant that his works were not performed in Germany until 1945.

The compositions of Ralph Vaughan Williams tend towards a transparent and clearly differentiated tonal language, oriented towards both early music and late Romantic and folk music elements. He wrote a total of nine symphonies, numerous other orchestral works and chamber music, oratorios, choral works, songs (including cycles such as "The House Of Life", 1903 and "Ten Blake Songs", 1957), ballets, stage and film music. His operas, such as "Hugh the Drover" (1910-14) and "Sir John in Love" (1924-28), were not very successful during his lifetime, but the unfinished "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1949) became a much-received work. Vaughan Williams had a great influence on subsequent English composers such as Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett and also provided important inspiration as an essayist ("National Music", 1934).

Booklet for Vaughan Williams Live, Vol. 3 (Live) [2022 Remastered Version]