Hi Nick. I agree with you about many things, especially Job. And, as I wrote, I appreciate that many of the symphonies stand up and 'travel well, as do his three 'pop' pieces, which are simply glorious. Once again, I reiterate, that it was the distinctly 'English' choral sound of the 2 'lesser' pieces Jeffrey Davis mentioned which kind of unlocked an antipathy which was initially sparked by Gerontius, but which now sparks an association with the ember days of what the Brits like to believe was a glorious empire. It's a political thing, I know, but in the end, life is politics. History has the uncanny knack of repeating itself because not many of us care to study the topic in order to learn from it. Regards, Dieter
The narrative that RVW does not travel well is a false one. Of course it is easy to make especially if one is pushing the "cowpat" theory to boot (I loath that simplistic and ignorant description).
For example take Job - which I think is fairly considered one of his true masterpieces but could be argued to be a very specifically "British" work . However, in Nigel Simeone's recent excellent book on Vaughan Williams and Boult he relates Boult conducting that work literally around the globe including Vienna, in Amsterdam with the Concertgebouw in Boston and Chicago as well as Geneva, Brussels & Monte Carlo. In Vienna, Bruno Walter came into to the artist's room after the concert with tears in his eyes saying "this is the most wonderful music".
It is NOT that this music does not travel or is parochial to the UK. It is that this music is not given the opportunity to travel. This is such a common occurence - in the UK at the Proms there are a host of Latin American composers who have never featured there. Is it because their music does not travel? Of course not!
Another idea that there is a substantial tranche of "pompous" or empire-celebrating music is equally false. There is a small amount of occasional music from Handel's Fireworks music to any number of Coronation marches that have an association but that is/was their function nothing in the music itself inherently "says" that. The trio of Pomp and Circumstance No.1 would JUST be a fantastic tune if someone had not attached "Land of Hope and Glory" (which Elgar disliked) to it. If the listener has issues about religion or empire or anything else that is THEIR issue and choice of extra-musical interpretation the music stands alone and independent of that.
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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