Here's something I've never quite understood. How was it that before I'd even heard a note of his music I knew I was going to get into Vaughan Williams? You may think I'm making this up, but I assure you that well before the period in which the world of serious, classical music blossomed for me I was sort of aware that VW was going to be the man for me. I suppose Richard Thompson's nifty little number Roll Over Vaughan Williams may have had some part to play, perhaps giving me a sense that if the supremely cool RT name-checked the man he might have something substantial to say. But then the title of the instrumental actually sounds dismissive rather than appreciative. Anyway, I know that in the moments before I put those first VW records on the turn-table back at Ellerton Road, Sheffield, I knew I was in for a treat - and not just a treat, but something that would stay with me always. Which it has, since then, and will continue to do so for as long as I have an always.
These loose thoughts have been prompted by the arrival of the three CD set from Chandos of The Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. I'm staring at the cover of the box and thinking, Oh boy, am I going to love this! insofar as I'm rationally thinking anything in my excitement. Seriously, I feel like a little kid at Christmas who's just been given the present he's been dreaming of all through Advent. You may be wondering if it's all going to be a bit of a let-down, but somehow I know it's going to be anything but.
More anon.
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