Vaughan Williams Masterpiece

 

Dona Nobis Pacem.

I have always considered the work thus, both as a musical masterpiece and a wartime choral cantata.

Richard Hickox's performance is one of my favorites, if not the finest I know. He takes his time in parts of the music, which is the aspect setting it apart from others. Plus having Yvonne Kenny and Bryn Terfel singing is a dream.

I am less sure regarding the cantata Sancta Civitas, although Sir David Willcocks has further endeared me to its music elsewhere.

A review from 2022

Ralph Vaughan Williams' symphonic choral masterpiece Dona Nobis Pacem is paired with a relative rarity, Sancta Civitas, each a hair over 30 minutes each. Both were recorded in the early 1990’s by the LSO under Sir Richard Hickox.

Dona Nobis Pacem stands with Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Paul Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd as stupendous musical works commenting on international war. RVW’s work stands out as a warning of coming war, lamenting the future to come, but with hope nonetheless. VW uses the poetry of Walt Whitman as he did in his Sea Symphony, with very effective and often startling words regarding the human condition coming from a century earlier than RVW’s music.

Sancta Civitas is a more ambiguous work to these ears. It ambles a fair bit without a melodic or thematic hook, nor with the divisions that Dona Nobis Pacem provides so satisfactorily. Still it is interesting music, perhaps a bit more modern sounding than Dona, but a little less effective in its use of straight biblical texts.

Sir Richard Hickox leads an energetic and grand performance of these works. He is dramatically effective in Beat! Beat! Drums! and I really like his deliberate tempo in the sumptuous Reconciliation and Dirge for Two Veterans, which makes these portions particularly meaningful. The London SO sounds superb, although in each work, I might have yearned for a slightly closer chorus; their words can become a wash of sound amongst the orchestra.

The soloists, however are wonderful. I loved Yvonne Kenny’s work in RVW’s A Sea Symphony on Chandos; hers is a fast, tight vibrato that might not appeal to everyone, but beguiles me. Bryn Terfel’s burly baritone is always a delight to this listener, and this early outing presents him without guile. Poor tenor Philip Langridge has to wait until the very last moments of Sancta Civitas to be heard for less than a minutes worth of singing; but fine it is.

Most would lead listeners to Sir Adrian Boult on EMI for Dona Nobis Pacem, but I think Hickox is very effective here, and I like his soloists very much. Sancta Civitas was also headed up by Sir David Willcocks, also on EMI, and its rarer pairings might appeal to collectors. It is a work, I need to spend more time with, I think, to appreciate.

 

 

 

 

Work
Dona Nobis Pacem (38.47)
Sancta Civitas (34.11)

Soloists
Yvonne Kenny, soprano
Philip Langridge, tenor
Bryn Terfel, baritone

Ensembles
St. Paul's Cathedral Choristers
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Hickox, conductor

Label: EMI
Year: 1993
Timing: 72.58

 

 

 

 

 

I am only holding back the keys to The Keep because I am unsure how to feel about Sancta Civitas.

Otherwise, these are superlative performances, and I love how Hickox takes his time in some of Dona Nobis Pacem.

This could perhaps be a recording of the ages. Time will tell...