A Connoisseur

 

That what Bryden Thomson was in Vaughan Williams.

What an absolutely splendid recording of orchestral works from Vaughan Williams this is.

The composer's most famous fantasias and rhapsodies are here, and each are miniature gems.

Add to this the plush sounding LSO and LPO in church location engineered by Chandos, making for a sure winner. This makes for a great partnership with Thomson's set of Vaughan Williams concertos and symphonies.

 

 A review from 2022

This compilation of Vaughan Williams’ orchestral music is taken from the mid-to-late 80’s. The first four works originally came packaged together on Chandos , while the last two were both paired to a symphony from Bryden Thomson’s VW’s symphony cycle with the London SO, and collected together here separate from the symphonies.

These are extremely beautiful works from Vaughan Williams, some for string orchestra and harp. Each have a minor-keyed, modal folk-song feel to them, with a plaintive cold wind blowing through their loveliness.

Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 and In the Fen Country are rarer early works, and I feel a pull from post-Romanticism, the latter ambling a bit, but both with folk songs nods throughout. The Fantasias, Variants, and Lark are more common, but are wonderfully played here. At 80 minutes, this is a full program too. If there is a deficit to this program, it is that these are all slow, moody works with not much variety between them, but I think that is mostly nitpickery on my part.

Chandos provides the London PO a luxuriant, plush depth with a strong bass line, giving these works a satisfying cinematic quality, aided by the cathedral recording locations. An intense majesty and grandiloquence occasion the many climaxes, but VW’s love of winds lends most of these towards the pastoral as well.

I really like Bryden Thomson’s portrayal of VW’s orchestral music, and I enjoy visiting his recordings of VW often. The Lark Ascending is particularly sonically delicious, with those ambivalent opening string chords a constant pleasure every time they appear, and Michael Davis’ singing violin quality a treasure.

There are a countless other VW series of note for comparison: Sir Neville Marriner on Decca Eloquence has a little more music across 2CDs, and of course none are more loved than that by Sir Adrian Boult on EMI , among some others. But this Chandos collection of orchestral works, alongside Thomson’s Concerto compilation on Chandos , and for that matter his symphonies, also on Chandos , are an invigorating balm for the soul in splendid sonics.

 

 

 

 

Works
Norfolk Rhapsody 1 (11.48)
In the Fen Country (17.38)
Tallis Fantasia (16.10)
Dives and Lazarus (13.29)
Greensleeves Fantasia (4.31)
Lark Ascending (15.31)

Soloists
Michael Davis, violin

Ensembles
London Symphony Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Bryden Thomson, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 1986-90; 1999
Timing: 79.26

 

 

 

Lap up all of Bryden Thomson's Vaughan Williams while life still thrives within. He has the most special way with the composer, ably shown here through these London orchestras.