Just Playing Around

Now things are a good deal less lively here I intend to complete playing through the symphonies of Ralph Vaughn Williams, as rendered by the London Philharmonic under Sir Adrian Boult in the recordings made in the 1950’s. In fact, I played both the 8th and 9th quite early in December, but was disturbed both times by residents of the house awaking early and making their presence known. The early morning was the only time of day when the house was not in some way busy then and presented the only opportunity of really being able to listen to something of reasonable duration. Now I have the luxury of listening pretty much whenever I please, but I still found myself choosing to listen to the 8th again this morning, before Noi had actually come downstairs.

It’s an odd piece all told, sandwiched as it is between two symphonies that incline to high seriousness, it comes across as particularly playful, as if VW is determined not to be seen, or heard, as making anything like a grand statement. The reduction of the orchestra to wind and brass for the second movement, and strings for the third, suggests that we are listening to sketches rather than something genuinely symphonic, and these movements, though beautifully characterised – the second as a rather jolly bucolic march, the third as ethereal romance – feel limited in conception, especially following the rich, and long, first movement. (The opening and close of the movement create a texture extremely close to the sound world of the 7th, by the way. The vibraphone is gorgeous – silky and spooky.) Then the finale seems somehow too brief to match the weight of that first movement.

Here, in the finale, I think the age of the recording creates a real problem. In the concert hall the intensity of the percussion involved creates a powerful physicality. The sheer loudness and brightness of the music has an impact in itself and it really doesn’t require any development beyond what’s given. It feels like an ending. But a recording, especially of this age, cannot capture this and the listener feels as if the symphony has fallen away somehow. I suppose this is true for the whole symphony: it sounds better in the concert hall than on record, or at least in the versions I know.

But I’m missing something about the 8th. It has a kind of ease and good-natured likeability that make it very attractive, even if it feels lightweight. Over the years of all VW’s symphonic output I’ve probably found myself playing this one more than any other.