MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antartica / 5 Variants of Dives & Lazarus

Vaughan Williams's Seventh Symphony began life as a film score to Scott of the Antarctic (how the symphony lost the "c" in "Antarctic" not even the composer could fully explain). The movie describes Scott's ill-fated expedition in which everyone perishes during a blizzard, literally yards away from safety. To describe man's struggle against the hostile elements, the composer has recourse to a hefty battalion of percussion (including vibraphone), piano, organ, wind machine, and wordless female soloist and chorus. It's an incredible piece of writing, perhaps closest in spirit to Holst's The Planets--both pieces describe alien, hostile environments, after all. It sounds spectacular in this recording. --David Hurwitz