{"product_id":"boult-vaughan-williams-symphonies-volume-2-symphonies-2-3-london-pastoral-1952-pasc662","title":"BOULT Vaughan Williams Symphonies Volume 2: Symphonies 2 \u0026 3 - London \u0026 Pastoral (1952) - PASC662","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e A London Symphony \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e(Symphony No. 2)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e Pastoral Symphony \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e(Symphony No. 3)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eStudio recordings, 1952\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration: 79:17\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eMargaret Ritchie\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e, soprano\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eLondon Philharmonic Orchestra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econducted by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eSir Adrian Boult\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PASC662.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\nThe genesis of Vaughan Williams’s “London” Symphony, as recounted twice by\nthe composer (in his essays “A Musical Autobiography” and “George\nButterworth”) is well known. One day in 1910, Butterworth “said in his\ngruff, abrupt, manner: ‘You know, you ought to write a symphony.’ I\nanswered, if I remember aright, that I had never written a symphony and\nnever intended to.” As RVW admitted, “This was not strictly true”—twice\nbefore he had drafted movements of projected symphonies, “all now happily\nlost. I suppose that Butterworth’s words stung me” and in 1912–13 he worked\nup sketches originally intended for a symphonic poem into the symphony. It\nseems, then, as if he initially considered \u003cem\u003eA Sea Symphony\u003c\/em\u003e to be an\nextended secular cantata, and the “London” Symphony his first proper\nsymphony. He showed his work to Butterworth as it progressed, “and it was\nthen that I realized that he possessed, in common with very few composers,\na wonderful power of criticism of other men’s work and insight into their\nideas and motives. I can never feel too grateful to him for all he did for\nme over this work.” After Butterworth died in combat in World War I, RVW\ndedicated the score to him. In his old age he declared it to be his\nfavorite among his own symphonies.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nGeoffrey Toye conducted the premiere with the Queen’s Hall Orchestra at its\nhome venue on Friday, March 27, 1914. Critical reaction was overwhelmingly\nlaudatory; the critic for the \u003cem\u003eDorking and Leatherhead Advertiser\u003c\/em\u003e\ndeclared that it was “not only the most masterly, but also the most\nbeautiful work, musically or psychologically considered, from the pen of\nany musician of his generation that we have heard in recent years”; that\nfor \u003cem\u003eJ. P.’s Weekly \u003c\/em\u003eopined that it was “a symphony that is full of\nnoble and unforgettable music.” There were a few dissenting voices; reviews\nin the \u003cem\u003eGlobe \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eTruth\u003c\/em\u003e were tepid, while H. A. Scott for \u003cem\u003eThe Westminster Gazette\u003c\/em\u003e dismissed it outright as “for the most\npart very dry and labored … dull in the extreme.” Most writers rightly\ngrasped that the symphony was intended to be psychologically evocative of\nstates of mind in beholding aspects of London, rather than graphically\npictorial in the manner of a symphonic poem; in RVW’s own words it was a\n“work written solely in music and meant to appeal solely to the musical\nimagination of the hearers.” The \u003cem\u003eLento\u003c\/em\u003e was singled out for its\nparticular beauty. Several critics agreed that the finale was the weakest\nlink and would be improved by being shortened. In the two bouts of\nrevisions that RVW undertook in 1918–20 and 1933 he pruned that movement\nconsiderably, resulting in the version generally familiar today, though\nboth the original 1913 and intermediate 1920 scores have also enjoyed\nrecordings.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nThe “Pastoral” Symphony was composed in the aftermath of the war in\n1919–20. This work often is alleged to have prompted Peter Warlock’s famous\ngibe that RVW’s music “is all just a little too much like a cow looking\nover a gate” (in fact Warlock had high praise for this symphony). This gave\nrise to the derisive nickname of “Cow Pat” school (coined by Elizabeth\nLutyens in 1950) for the so-called “English Pastoralist” composers such as\nRVW, Butterworth, Finzi, Ireland, and Moeran. But the composer himself\nwrote in 1938 to Ursula Wood that the score “is really \u003cem\u003ewar time\u003c\/em\u003e\nmusic … it’s not really Lambkins frisking at all as most people take for\ngranted,” an embodiment of his reminiscences of fields in France where he\nserved in the war as a medical orderly, and an elegy to those who fell\nthere in combat. The famous trumpet tune in the second movement provided an\ninitial idea for the work when a regimental bugler accidentally played an\ninterval of a seventh instead of an octave.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nThe premiere was given by Adrian Boult on January 16, 1922, with the London\nPhilharmonic and soprano soloist Flora Mann. Most critics seem to have been\na bit nonplussed by the score’s sustained, subdued mood throughout its four\nmovements; Ernest Newman penned a sour diatribe against it for \u003cem\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e. Only recently have its many virtues gained\nproper appreciation; the present recording was its premiere on discs.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJAMES ALTENA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 24px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eBOULT \u003c\/b\u003eVaughan Williams Symphonies, Volume 2\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/b\u003e A London Symphony\u003c\/span\u003e (Symphony No. 2)\u003cbr\u003e1. 1st mvt. - Lento - Allegro resoluto  (13:20)\u003cbr\u003e2. 2nd mvt. - Lento  (11:04)\u003cbr\u003e3. 3rd mvt. - Scherzo (Nocturne)  (7:03)\u003cbr\u003e4. 4th mvt. - Finale. Andante con moto - Maestoso alla marcia - Lento - Epilogue  (12:33)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/b\u003e Pastoral Symphony \u003c\/span\u003e(Symphony No. 3)\u003cbr\u003e5. 1st mvt. - Molto moderato  (9:43)\u003cbr\u003e6. 2nd mvt. - Lento moderato  (8:19)\u003cbr\u003e7. 3rd mvt. - Moderato pesante  (6:22)\u003cbr\u003e8. 4th mvt. - Lento  (10:53)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMargaret Ritchie\u003c\/b\u003e, soprano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLondon Philharmonic Orchestra   \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003econducted by \u003cb\u003eSir Adrian Boult\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXR Remastered by Andrew Rose\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover artwork based on a photograph of Vaughan Williams\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA London Symphony\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded 8 \u0026amp; 10 January 1952\u003cbr\u003eKingsway Hall, London\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePastoral Symphony\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded 12-13 December 1952\u003cbr\u003eKingsway Hall, London\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTotal duration:  79:17 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover Art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcover_art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/thumbs\/PASC662.jpg578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/PASC662.pdf578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f","brand":"Pristine Classical","offers":[{"title":"Ambient Stereo 24-bit FLAC","offer_id":44064695418970,"sku":"gvk1789303460581","price":13.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Ambient Stereo 16-bit FLAC","offer_id":44064695451738,"sku":"lrv1789303460582","price":8.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"320kbps Ambient Stereo MP3","offer_id":44064695484506,"sku":"key1789303460583","price":7.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0726\/3807\/0874\/files\/boult-vaughan-williams-symphonies-volume-2-symphonies-2-3---london-pastoral-1952_1.jpg?v=1789303467","url":"https:\/\/vestorawear.shop\/products\/boult-vaughan-williams-symphonies-volume-2-symphonies-2-3-london-pastoral-1952-pasc662","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}