Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.6/In the Fen Country/On Wenlock Edge
Here’s one of the most desirable instalments yet in Bernard Haitink’s patient and always thought-provoking VW symphony cycle for EMI. The performance of the visionary Sixth Symphony impresses in its profound concentration and innate musicality: not only is Haitink’s pacing infallible (nowhere more so than towards the first movement, where his noble handling of the secondary melody’s final full flowering–once familiar as the theme from the 1970s TV series A Family at War–is as near to perfection as could be imagined), he also galvanises the London Philharmonic to give of their considerable best. Of DDD rivals, only Vernon Handley’s exemplary Liverpool account on mid-price EMI Eminence boasts the same level of insight and accomplishment (indeed, his closing bars are, if anything, even more searching than the Dutchman’s). The rest of Haitink’s programme, however, effortlessly lifts his CD into the indispensable class. In the intensely evocative song-cycle On Wenlock Edge (which sets six poems from A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad), tenor Ian Bostridge has never been better, and the sublimely articulate orchestral playing both here and in the lovely, youthful “symphonic impression” In the Fen Country is an absolute joy. The sound is marvellously realistic throughout. –Andrew Achenbach
Customer Review: Another jewel in the Haitink/Vaughan Williams cycle
The splendid Emi cycle of the RVW symphonies under Haitink is, possibly,the most distressingly slow release in the history : I mean, the first cd ( the “Antartica” dates from 1985 and we’re still waiting for what is supposed to be the last one ( 8&9) ! . Perhaps it wasn’t intended to be a cycle, but the quality of the results sort of forced EMI to go on ….slowly. What I really like is that Haitink approaches Vaughan Williams like the 20th century master symphonist he is: he skips the idea of the “all-British”phenomenon and puts RVW in the mainstream symphonic canon , where this wonderful music belongs. Probably some British reviewers would say that these are not the most “idiomatic” performances, but I believe that Haitink has the musical stature to encompass all the aspects of RVW’s muti-faceted symphonies, while remaining admirably faithful to the letter of the scores. The 6th is a very difficult piece, for it’s uncompromisingly craggy, even bleak in its ominous pianissimos and earth-shattering tuttis. After the luminously serene 5th the critics and audiences of 1948 were shocked by this enigmatic work : they liked it (the first performance was a triumph) but they tried to explain it with the depiction of a desolate post-atomic landscape, to the composer’s annoyance. Haitink’s view is as musically comprehensive as it gets : the complicated orchestrations are wonderfully clear, the vision of the work as a whole is totally convincing. Yet this not an “academic” performance, low on tension charge: the strikingly original final movement ( 10 minutes of pianissimo fading into silence) is really an anguished contemplation of the Abyss, while the famous climax of the 2nd movement sounds inexorably terrifying. All in all, this performance completely supersedes my previous digital reference, Andrew Davis on Teldec. About the other pieces : “In the Fen country” is a minor but beautiful (and here beautifully performed) symphonic piece, very much in the RVW classic British-Pastoral tradition, while I can’t express a real judgement on “Wenlock edge”, because vocal music is not my thing. A final praise for the LPO, which plays marvelously for their beloved Dutchman ( Haitink is currently the LPO’s President) : they produce a splendidly unified, richly dark sound, yet the solo parts are nothing short of mesmerizing. The EMI sound is completely satisfying, a notable achievement in itself because the incredibly wide-ranging dynamics of the 6th don’t seem an easy job for a sound engineer. Recommended with enthusiasm.
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