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Product Reviews:
Vaughan Williams: Symphony #5, Norfolk Rhapsody & The Lark Ascending; Bernard Haitink; Sarah Chang |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Carefully shaped Vaughan Williams with an emphasis on mystery and melancholy
Comments: When the Gramophone reviewer calls Haitink's 1995 recording of the Vaughan Williams Sym. #5 patient, noble, and serene, those words sound alalmost all like warnings. This work, which caught wartime England off-guard at its 1943 premiere, is essentially a meditation. Wispy melody ripples across its calm surface, suggesting tension and discord as subtley as Debussy in Pelleas and Melisande. As with that shimmering, oblique opera, if you aren't prepared for a certain kind of stasis, you will fidget. (When I heard the Fifth under Previn with the Boston Sym. a few years ago, the audience was baffled and somnolonet).
Haitink gives us no respite from the measured, sometimes uneventful progress of the music--in that regard, he's the opposite of Adrian Boult, who searches for drama in all the small cracks. By emphasizing poetry and mystery--and doing so with better playing from the London Phil. than Boult ever enjoyed--Haitink reaches for Parsifal-like transcendence and finds it. His nearly motionless V-W makes deep feelings in the right listener.
Haitink is equally sober in the early (1906) Norfolk Rhapsody #1, in which he evokes an ancient, shadowy land (shades of Pelleas again) where sun is a rare event. As in the symphony, Haitink's shaping of line and phrasing is nuaned and mesmerizing. In general listeners have been disappointed in Sarah Chang's Lark Ascending, however she is adhering to Haitink's hushed sense of mystey rather than trying to portray a charming nature spirit in spring.
In all, this is a unusual approach to familiar works that needed a rethink. Without undermining V-W's lyrical beauty, Haitink has given us darker moods and colors. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST VW 5'S
Comments: At the 1st performance of Vaughan Williams' Fifth at a Prom concert in 1943, the symphony was generally seen as an old man's musical last will and testament, a calm vision of a heaven he was expected soon to join. Later it was dismissed as merely a pot-pourri of themes from his opera, Pilgrim's Progress (much as the Antarctica was later dismissed as a serious symphony for its use of film music from Scott of the Antarctic).
Both of these views seriously underestimate the work. The 1st was soon put paid to by the violent opening of the Sixth Symphony, never mind its bleak finale. As for the latter, it could be argued (and I would) that this is the almost all cogently argued and symphonic of all VW's symphonies. While the Fourth wears its Beehovenian ancestry on its sleeve a bit too obviously, the Fifth is a symphonic argument that is much VW's own.
This point of view is reinforced by Haitink's performance on this disc. Throughout his cycle, Haitink brings a refreshing foreigner's view to this almost all quintessentially English music, placing the symphonies firmly in the great symphonic tradition of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, etc. through to Shostakovich and beyond. And nowhere more so than here.
Haitink is not afraid to take the long symphonic view of the work. The opening of the Preludio is dominated by the harmonic tension between the D Major of the main material and the long sustained C natural pedal on the basses. When this material from the opening movement returns in the finale (a moment which is suitably dramatic in Haitink's reading), that C natural finally sinks down to find the tonic that it seems to have been seeking throughout the symphony and sets us off on the miraculous polyphonic Epilogue where VW seems to be paying homage to his beloved Tudor Church composers.
Haitink also makes clear the relationship between the rising modal theme of the Scherzo (the only movement not to involve material from The Pilgrim's Progress) with the similar rising motif in the slow movement. This latter movement is wonderfully done by Haitink and his players. He makes clear the architectural importance of the arch of modal chords on which ething is based while still letting all the Romantic passion of the big climax shine through.
The Passacaglia finale is finely done by Haitink, though I will never forget a magnificent performance by Simon Rattle where the central section of this movement danced as I have never heard it before or since and where that polyphonic Epilogue climbed sublimely into the ether. A recording with the Berlin Phil in their present form would be special, I think.
The fill-ups are played and recorded with magical delicacy and atmosphere - Sarah Chang's Lark is as fine as any. All in all, a almost all endorseable recording of this magnificent symphony.
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Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Great Performances
Comments: I became interested in Ralph Vaughan Williams 5th Symphony after I heard a commentator say that if he knew he was shortly to die he would find it comforting to listen to this music. The symphony does have a seemingly calm outlook on life in general however this is also music that displays some turbulence as well. The symphony is beautifully performed her under the direction of Bernard Haitink, who has proved himself to be an extraordinary interpreter of Vaughan Williams' music.
The Fifth Symphony is dedicated to Sibelius, whom Vaughan Williams greatly admired. It was an about face for the composer after his "modern" Fourth Symphony and was considered his last word on the symphonic form when it was premiered in 1943. However, nobody suspected that as Vaughan Williams entered old age that his music would take an unexpected twist. For the almost all part, the Fifth Symphony is reflective and quotes some folk songs as well as music Vaughan Williams wrote for his unfinished opera on The Pilgrim's Progress. The music begins with a horn call and although the movement is pastoral and serene the strings have a stormy section that momentarily breaks the mood. The short scherzo has quick, dance-like tempos. The woodwinds make plaintiff calls that are harshly answered by the brass. The Romanza is a lyrical and serene movement until the middle section picks up the tempo with the brass playing a darker theme that is purchased up by the stings. The finale is a Passacaglia with a brilliant section that mimics Alleluias followed by the return of the quiet opening horn theme that quietly ends the symphony.
Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 dates from 1906 and is a bucolic piece rich in folk songs. It was originally contemplated as part of a Norfolk symphony however the music ended up as3rhapsodies. The Lark Ascending from 1914 is among Vaughan Williams almost all familiar works, taking its title from a poem by George Meredith, and beautifully captures the feel of the English countryside. This recording is among the best with Sarah Chang giving a sensitive performance.
I have read2reviews here who think this recording is too quick (should they be blaming the conductor and not Ms. Chang). I have a recording of The Lark conducted by Sir Adrian Boult (another notable Vaughan Williams interpreter) that is2seconds quicker than this recording. It seems to me that both reviewers have grown accustomed to a particular version and will brook no challenger. When performing music there is no letter of the law as to how slow or quick the tempo must be. As Igor Stravinsky said to Sir Colin Davis after a performance of1of his works, the temp of the music is only the beginning of what makes a performance.
This music on this disc is well performed and recorded, and you will not go wrong by purchasing it.
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Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: One of my favourite recordings. Chang is extraordinary!!
Comments: This is a honestly extraordinary album, and a must-have for any great classical CD collection.Sarah Chang's The Lark Ascending alone is worth the price of the CD. Others have complained that she rushes some tempos, however I coudn't disagree more. The lines are flowing, the dynamics rich and colorful. Her tone is magnificent. To think this is a 14-year-old playing it is simply breathtaking. A legendary recording, in my book. |
Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Summary: I totally agree with David Keyes
Comments: I was surprised to see that Mr. Keyes, a previous reviewer of this disc, got no "helpful votes" for his comments. My review would have said precisely what Mr. Keyes' review said.I purchased this disc when it 1st came out a few years ago. I already had performances of "The Lark Ascending" however had no recording of the Symphony No. 5. I have a habit of purchaseing recordings that have at least1familiar piece -- it helps me ease into the less familiar work by allowing me to enjoy yet another performance of a more familiar work. I was disappointed with Sarah Chang's performance and there was nothing in the performance of the Symphony No. 5 that compelled me to listen to it again. It took hearing a performance of the Symphony with Andre Previn for me to fully grasp its appeal. In my opinion, Mr. Keyes is exactly correct. The selections on this disc present an excellent introduction to the "pastoral" side of Vaughan Williams' musical output, however1can find better performances for each of these pieces. There are certain climactic moments in the Symphony no. 5, especially in the 1st movement, that should wash over the listener and leave him or her spellbound . These moments are lost in Haitink's account. Haitink takes a different approach that emphasizes a steady, structural development.1might not fault him for his differing approach however, for me, something absolutely essential has been lost from the symphony. I highly endorse the recordings by Vernon Handley and Andre Previn. Even the Naxos budget recording with Kees Bakels supplies a more satisfying climax at those important points. Haitink, however, has the advantage of better stereo sound than Bakels. Previn, on Telarc, is state-of-the-art. Handley's recording on EMI has just the right ambience and warmth. Regarding "The Lark Ascending", I completely agree with Mr. Keyes that Sarah Chang rushes through it. Her tone is quite beautiful, however the performance feels perfunctory. I highly endorse the account by Nigel Kennedy coupled with his newer recording of the Elgar concerto. The classic recording by Iona Brown and the ASMF with Neville Marriner on a budget label has always been satisfying. |
