Oh, and as an aside, that's probably why Italian Music is so charming and fresh: it's both pagan and most often joyous and music that enjoys the moment.
I greatly enjoyed all those Anniversary reviews Ralph, (especially as my notes for the Alto release of symphonies 4 and 5 received a positive mention!) For me, it's the 6th Symphony and the Pilgrim's Progress (which I was privileged to see live twice) that are VW's greatest works. I'm also very fond of lesser-known works like Epithalamion (ideal late-night listening) and the Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune.
I hope readers were pleased with the collection of reviews celebrating the birth sesquicentennial. I wonder if anyone shares my irritation at the constant references to Vaughan Williams as a primarily "pastoral" composer. For all that he was a collector of folk songs, loved the English countryside and expressed that love in his music, so much of it is far more challenging than the justly famous "lollipops" like Dives and Lazarus , the Lark Ascending and Greensleeves - all of which which I love, but they are not the bulk or core of his work. The "Pastoral" symphony and the Romanza of the Fifth (which does not actually have much to do with the English countryside) notwithstanding, you have only to listen to his symphonies as a whole - especially nos. 4, 6 and 9 - to hear why the composer was irked by that label.
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