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Posted by Jeffrey Davis on May 16, 2008, 5:37 pm, in reply to "Vaughan Williams Ninth Symphony"
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VW's 9th is one of my all time favourite works and, I believe, one of his greatest achievements. Unlike Michael Kennedy (whose views I have the greatest respect for), I think that it is clearly a valedictory work and that there is a very strong sense of "leave taking". The opening and closing movements are the best, although I love the work as a whole. The very end, with those monolithic waves of sound accompanied by the harps (best heard in Vernon Handley's CFP Liverpool performance) is overwhelming; Vaughan Williams staring death defiantly in the face. I am sentimental and always like to think of those harps representing the soul of the great man (despite his agnosticism) ascending to Heaven!
As for recordings. Stokowski on Cala was a great discovery. Bryden Thomson on Chandos with the Piano Concerto is fine, as are Boult's two versions and Slatkin on RCA (N/A). I saw Slatkin give a fine performance at the proms a few years ago. It is, I think, Vaughan Williams's most moving score and desert island material for me.
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