Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antartica / Four Last Songs / Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra
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RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antartica / Four Last Songs / Concerto for Two Pianos & Orchestra
Mari Eriksmoen (soprano), Louis Lortie, Hélène Mercier (pianos), Roderick Williams (baritone) Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
[ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD ]
Release Date: Friday 2 February 2018
This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.
This is the eagerly awaited final volume in our historic series of Vaughan Williams's Symphonies, started about twenty-five years ago by the late Richard Hickox, and recently continued by that other expert in British repertoire, Sir Andrew Davis.
The album features an exceptional cast and a rare combination of repertoire. While the indefatigable piano duo Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier tackle the virtuosic Double Piano Concerto, the baritone Roderick Williams OBE offers breathtaking interpretations of the rarely heard, yet passionate Four Last Songs, in Anthony Payne's delicate and imaginative orchestration, premiered at the BBC Proms only four years ago. Vaughan Williams based the disc's centrepiece, the majestic Sinfonia Antartica, on music he had written for the film Scott of the Antarctic only a few years before, stunningly evoking the implacable, frozen landscape of the Antarctic.
All are supported by the impeccable Bergen orchestra and choirs and recorded in surround-sound. This album is a very special one, as is the now complete series.
"... Davis is at his most dynamic, and the Bergen Philharmonic playing is characteristically crisp. This would be my present first choice ... The Bergen players are especially effective, the huge orchestration never cluttered or opaque in SACD spaciousness ..." BBC Music magazine - Christmas 2017
"Either [Lortie] or Hélène Mercier could probably polish off the original [Concerto] by themselves, but their partnership develops its intensity without strain, particularly attractive in rich SACD sound. Davis is at his most dynamic, and the Bergen Philharmonic playing is characteristically crisp…Orchestrated by Anthony Payne [The Four Last Songs are] attractive if unexceptional, but Roderick Williams does evoke their essential tenderness." BBC Music
"The Bergen Phil finds a clear affinity with the Sinfonia Antartica...There's an inexorability about this performance and a strong tragic undertow that makes it a compelling listen throughout. Davis authoritatively builds up the tension without any fussiness...balm is supplied by the cultivated baritone of Roderick Williams in Vaughan Williams's little-known Four Last Songs." The Times
"Davis Frames its doomed heroism with real feeling in a performance rich in evocatively etched detail, Mari Eriksmoen's soprano ethereal and haunting. Roderick Williams beautifully understated and characteristically moving. Excellent sound and notes by Stephen Connock contribute to an essential disc for VW devotees." Classical Ear
Tracks:
1-5 Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 7 'Sinfonia antartica'
6-9 Four Last Songs
10-13 Concerto (1926-31)
