Customer Rating: 
Summary: My favourite Vaughan Williams CD set
Comment: and I like the box too: I can always pick it out among the other VW sets ;-)
A wonderful evocative 3rd, a tense war study. Not very pastoral, nor bucolic or lyrical: I do not agree much with Vernon Handley's interpretation. Rather it is the past remembered, resigned melancholy that something is not quite right, yet with self-discovery and steely determination that is discussed and evolved by the soloists. Never forget that a war demands and makes a different mindset we do not understand. I find Rued Langgaard's deeply disturbing 4th Symphony, "Leaf Fall" 1916, to be in good company here.
Haitink's take on things generally differs just a bit from the English conductors, but I think "In the Fen Country" in particular justifies buying the set. Yeah, I know it's Cambridge but for me it's standing on a sandy beach late in the year and late in the evening, looking west across the North Sea into the dying sunset with a stiff salty breeze in my face. At around 7 minutes there's a break, a shift, the sun sets, suddenly a chill. After the release the mood slowly settles and dies out along with the last light, and it's dark.
Boult's version is ....flatter and a bit more twelve o'clock midday. I rather like Boult's 4th though; which was a surprise, not quite so sharp-edged.
Hey, and almost thrown in as a free afterthought "On Wenlock Edge" with Ian Bostridge, for me THE English Tenor. Sarah Chang in "The Lark Ascending". Having bought the set I felt obliged to sneak away guiltily: someone had been cheated and it wasn't me.
I'm pretty pleased.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Haitink vs Handley: too close to call?
Comment: For a RVW set, though there are several excellent bargains to choose from, choice really comes down to two EMI labelmates: Haitink and Handley. I think the Dutchman may just have the edge on his English rival, although neither will disappoint.
This set began in the late eighties with a magnificent Sinfonia Antartica, then came an equally splendid London Symphony and then a faultless Sea Symphony. The pattern was established.
Everyone has a different idea about which of the nine is RVW's best, so if I say that Haitink might even convince you No8 is in the running, you'll guess at how surprising his performances can be. This and Nos3-4 become expansive, more imposing creations. No5 is less ethereal than it can be, but portends a genuine sense of tragedy that befits its wartime origins. Nos6 & 9 are beyond praise (especially the latter).
what finally swayed me was (re)hearing Haitink's sublime recording of In The Fen Country, on the radio. Given that Handley's recordings are all available individually, I suggest you buy this slimline box and maybe supplement it with Handley's versions of Nos 3 & 5.
The only thing wrong with Haitink's box is the hideous colour scheme, but even that can't prevent it receiving 5 stars. A landmark issue.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Haitink puts Vaughan Williams in a European Context
Comment: 2004 was a good year for Box Sets of Vaughan Williams Symphonies. Best of the bunch is this one from EMI with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Do not be put off by the lengthy gestation of the project, over 16 years between 1984 and 2000, there is a consistency of interpretation, performance and sound.Haitink's first recording in the set of the 7th Symphony, the Sinfonia Antarctica is his manifesto. He takes Vaughan Williams out of the cosy world of 20th century British music and the interpretive shadow cast by Adrian Boult and places him in an ongoing tradition of European symphonists. Haitink revels in the richness of the symphony's sound worlds and in the romantic heart which he finds in them all. This is a rich, big boned interpretation from the episodic feast of the first movement onwards, and there is surely no recording with a more appropriate acoustic.
The First in the cycle , 'A Sea Symphony" is startling, as conductor, orchestra and singers burn a new way to the heart of this huge work with a searingly intense first movement.
The Second, A London Symphony has many fine recordings. Here the louder passages are brash, boisterous and thoroughly urban. Vaughan Williams loved city life and would surely have approved.
The Third, A Pastoral Symphony is one of the most striking reinterpretations here, and perhaps the hardest to take for traditionalists. Boult's mystical manipulation of blocks of chords with solo instruments floating above them is replaced with lyrical argument.
The furies at the heart of the Fourth Symphony are set free to great effect, as they are in the Sixth Symphony. Haitink excels in the demonic dance music in both symphonies and the jazz elements in the Sixth are enthusiastically articulated
If the interpretation of the Pastoral Symphony is striking, that of the 8th is a complete transformation, and one that convinces. No longer is this a small symphony, here it is the considerable utterance of a master.
The Fifth symphony is its radiant self, but the questions that also inhabit the score are welcomed, giving this performance light and shade.
The Ninth Symphony, sometimes considered a difficult work sounds like a natural summation of Vaughan Williams musical journey. It is a suitable epitaph, autumnal but radiating vigour.
There are a number of filler works here, like the Symphonies some are radical reinterpretations. I am not convinced by this Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. In The Lark Ascending the programme is forgotten and it becomes a one movement Concerto with a continuous violin line.
Haitink's interpretations are not for everyone. If you want modern a modern equivalent of Boult with good digital sound choose the Vernon Handley Set on Classics For Pleasure. That also has the benefit of a more generous selection of extra works. But if you want to hear exciting modern performances in exemplary sound snap up this bargain box.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BARGAIN OF THE YEAR !!!
Comment: This must be the bargain box of 2004! Haitink's cycle of R.V-W, is excellent in every way, and the sound is first class. Strong, spacious and detailed interpretations will convince doubters (if any remain) that this is one of the great symphonic cycles.....and the fillers are excellent too. No need to hesitate.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vaughan Williams enters the Canon of European Symphonists
Comment: 2004 Has been a good year for Box Sets of Vaughan Williams Symphonies. Best of the bunch is this one from EMI with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Do not be put off by the lengthy gestation of the project, over 16 years between 1984 and 2000, there is a consistency of interpretation, performance and sound.Haitink's first recording in the set of the 7th Symphony, the Sinfonia Antarctica is his manifesto. He takes Vaughan Williams out of the cosy world of 20th century British music and the interpretive shadow cast by Adrian Boult and places him in an ongoing tradition of European symphonists. Haitink revels in the richness of the symphony's sound worlds and in the romantic heart which he finds in them all. These are rich, big boned interpretations. Nowhere more so than in this 7th Symphony, from the episodic feast of the first movement onwards, and there is surely no recording with a more appropriate acoustic.
The First in the cycle , 'A Sea Symphony" is startling, as conductor, orchestra and singers burn a new way to the heart of this huge work with a searingly intense first movement.
The Second, A London Symphony has many fine recordings. Here the louder passages are brash, boisterous and thoroughly urban. Vaughan Williams loved city life and would surely have approved.
The Third, A Pastoral Symphony is one of the most striking reinterpretations here, and perhaps the hardest to take for traditionalists. Boult's mystical manipulation of blocks of chords with solo instruments floating above them is replaced with lyrical argument.
The furies at the heart of the Fourth Symphony are set free to great effect, as they are in the Sixth Symphony. Haitink excels in the demonic dance music in both symphonies and the jazz elements in the Sixth are enthusiastically articulated
If the interpretation of the Pastoral Symphony is striking, that of the 8th is a complete transformation, and one that convinces. No longer is this a small symphony, here it is the considerable utterance of a master.
The Fifth symphony is its radiant self, but the questions that also inhabit the score are welcomed, giving this performance light and shade.
The Ninth Symphony, sometimes considered a difficult work sounds like a natural summation of Vaughan Williams musical journey. It is a suitable epitaph, autumnal but radiating vigour.
There are a number of filler works here, like the Symphonies some are radical reinterpretations. I am not convinced by this Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. In The Lark Ascending the programme is forgotten and it becomes a one movement Concerto with a continuous violin line.
Haitink's interpretations are not for everyone. If you want modern a modern equivalent of Boult with good digital sound choose the Vernon Handley Set on Classics For Pleasure. That also has the benefit of a more generous selection of extra works. If you want to hear exciting modern performances in exemplary sound snap up this bargain box.
