Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - BBC Symphony Orchestra & Martyn Brabbins

Symphony No 3 'Pastoral'[37'29]
1
Molto moderato[10'33]
2
Lento moderato[8'58]
3
Moderato pesante[6'17]
4
Lento[11'41]
with Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
Symphony No 4 in F minor[34'16]
5
Allegro[8'27]
6
Andante moderato[10'46]
7
Scherzo: Allegro molto –[5'32]
8
Finale con epilogo fugato: Allegro molto[9'31]
9
Saraband 'Helen' Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?[9'06]
with David Butt Philip (tenor), BBC Symphony Chorus

Compelling performances of two very different symphonies, the complex visionary pantheism of the ‘Pastoral’ an ideal foil for the unbridled ferocity of No 4. An added incentive, Martyn Brabbins’s idiomatic realization of Vaughan Williams’s choral Saraband 'Helen' (a first recording) is a real discovery.