Light, shade and a sweet serenade from the RLPO
Malcolm Hayes enjoys fine performances and an orchestral rarity on this Vaughan Williams disc
Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending; Fantasia on Greensleeves; Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus; Serenade to Music; English Folk Song Suite; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
James Ehnes (violin); Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/andrew Manze Onyx ONYX 4212 69:23 mins The earlier instalments of Andrew Manze’s Vaughan Williams cycle with the RLPO have produced in-and-out results, so it’s good to be able to report that the successlevel here is excellently high. Collectors will savour a genuine rarity: the composer’s own orchestra-only arrangement of Serenade to Music. The work’s design is bound to feel rather static without its Shakespeare text – as in the opening section’s fairly literal restatement, here minus the solo voices of the original version, so that it can’t really add to what we’ve already heard. But the music sounds as rapturously beautiful as ever, and Manze’s conducting gets a handsome orchestral response.
Variants on Dives and Lazarus can sometimes come across as a semi-routine creation, but not with the beautifully shaded string orchestra textures conjured here, and the poised interaction of these with the solo harp part. Similar care has been taken, too, with the Tallis Fantasia; the contrast between the non vibrato, almost viol-like sounds of the recessed, second string orchestra and the lustrously-toned main ensemble is perhaps a touch exaggerated, but the musical point is convincingly made. James Ehnes’s strong, forthright and unaffected delivery of The Lark Ascending’s solo part is an asset in itself; and the Greensleeves Fantasia and English Folk Song Suite each provide an easy-listening interlude.
The acoustical difference between Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall (for The Lark Ascending) and Friary (for the other works) is noticeable, but not enough to be a problem, and the recorded sound in both venues is warm and clear.
PERFORMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★
Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
James Ehnes’s delivery of The Lark Ascending is an asset in itself