Post by erik on Dec 4, 2021 13:36:32 GMT -5
One of the great English symphonies of all times, written during the time of maximum danger for the Crown, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Vaughan-Williams: SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN D MAJOR
After the Baroque era of George Frideric Handel and Henry Purcell, English music fell into something of a black hole for more than a century and a half. But then, as the 19th century became the 20th, many gifted composers revived the music of the British Empire. One of the most prominent of these was Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose compositional style was appropriate for the often-turbulent times he lived through, which included two World Wars, but which often reached far back into England’s past, including the Renaissance. Popular works of the man known to his friends by his initials RVW included “Fantasia On ‘Greensleeves’”; “Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis”; “Five Variants On ‘Dives And Lazarus’”; and “The Lark Ascending”. He also composed nine symphonies, all of which found fairly instant popularity in England and, in the decade or so following his passing in 1958, also found their way to America. One of the most popular is his Fifth Symphony, in D Major, written, ironically enough, in a four-year period (1939-1943) in which RVW’s homeland was nearly wiped off the map by the Nazi Blitzkrieg. As with many of his symphonies, the Fifth requires fairly sizeable orchestral forces; but as with his shorter works, it also has many elements of English pastoral idealism, which found their American equivalents in Aaron Copland. Elements of the composer’s opera “The Pilgrim’s Progress” also weave their way through this 40-45 minute work. With conductors like Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent, RVW was in good hands when his symphonies could be heard for his home audiences; and the Fifth found its way to America in the years following World War II thanks to its being championed by Leopold Stokowski.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/ROBERT SPANO (Telarc)
Included:
FANTASIA ON A THEME OF THOMAS TALLIS
SERENADE TO MUSIC (Tenor: THOMAS STUDEBAKER) (Soprano: JESSICA RIVERA) (Baritone: NIMON FORD) (Mezzo-Soprano: KELLEY O’CONNOR) (Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus)
Thomas Tallis: WHY FURN’TH IN FIGHT (Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus)
Vaughan-Williams: SYMPHONY NO. 5 IN D MAJOR
After the Baroque era of George Frideric Handel and Henry Purcell, English music fell into something of a black hole for more than a century and a half. But then, as the 19th century became the 20th, many gifted composers revived the music of the British Empire. One of the most prominent of these was Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose compositional style was appropriate for the often-turbulent times he lived through, which included two World Wars, but which often reached far back into England’s past, including the Renaissance. Popular works of the man known to his friends by his initials RVW included “Fantasia On ‘Greensleeves’”; “Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis”; “Five Variants On ‘Dives And Lazarus’”; and “The Lark Ascending”. He also composed nine symphonies, all of which found fairly instant popularity in England and, in the decade or so following his passing in 1958, also found their way to America. One of the most popular is his Fifth Symphony, in D Major, written, ironically enough, in a four-year period (1939-1943) in which RVW’s homeland was nearly wiped off the map by the Nazi Blitzkrieg. As with many of his symphonies, the Fifth requires fairly sizeable orchestral forces; but as with his shorter works, it also has many elements of English pastoral idealism, which found their American equivalents in Aaron Copland. Elements of the composer’s opera “The Pilgrim’s Progress” also weave their way through this 40-45 minute work. With conductors like Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent, RVW was in good hands when his symphonies could be heard for his home audiences; and the Fifth found its way to America in the years following World War II thanks to its being championed by Leopold Stokowski.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/ROBERT SPANO (Telarc)
Included:
FANTASIA ON A THEME OF THOMAS TALLIS
SERENADE TO MUSIC (Tenor: THOMAS STUDEBAKER) (Soprano: JESSICA RIVERA) (Baritone: NIMON FORD) (Mezzo-Soprano: KELLEY O’CONNOR) (Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus)
Thomas Tallis: WHY FURN’TH IN FIGHT (Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus)