Longtime friend David Federman wrote, "Given the present circumstances, and the elegiac purpose of the Third, why don't you share it with your followers. I can't think of a better piece of music for the 20th anniversary of 9/11."
Nor can I, David. I have previously presented Boult's 1953 recording of this symphony; here is the worthy remake, dating from 1968. Sir Adrian conducted the 1922 premiere of the work.
As I wrote in my 2018 post, Vaughan Williams' composition was both a meditation on the English countryside and on the war-scarred terrain of World War I France, where he served as a corpsman and where he began writing the symphony.
"Vaughan Williams was confronted by death constantly. His response was to produce a symphony of remarkable beauty, heartbreaking and elegiac," I wrote then. "Among its effects are a solo bugle, whose sound he would have heard each evening in France, and also at the military funerals he attended; and a wordless soprano solo, perhaps an angel's voice comforting the souls of the dead and welcoming them to a better world.
"Or so I imagine. The work does not really have any stated programmatic aim, and can be enjoyed simply as an extraordinary piece of music."
The soprano soloist here is Margaret Price.
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| Boult and Vaughan Williams in 1935 |
In the Fen Country
The "symphonic impression"In the Fen Country, from 1904, was the first orchestral work that Vaughan Williams acknowledged, although earlier items have come to light. It's an accomplished piece of music, and with its meditation on the Fenlands in Eastern England, well chosen as a disc mate for the Pastoral Symphony.
In an enclosed Gramophone review, critic Trevor Harvey disagreed that In the Fen Country is well-matched to the symphony. He considered it an "undistinguished piece" that is inferior to the composer's Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1. I don't agree; In the Fen Country is well shaped and has memorable themes; what else could you want? The Norfolk Rhapsody is built on folk tunes, and while it is enjoyable enough, to me the tragic Captain's Apprentice fits uneasily next to the jaunty On Board a Ninety-Eight. (Robert Tear's brilliant recordings of these folksongs are still available here, a decade later.)
Boult's was the first recording of In the Fen Country.
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| From a September 1968 ad in The Gramophone |
On the Recording
I mentioned in my post on the Symphony No. 5 that vinyl sources are preferable to the digital remasterings of these works, and that the UK pressings are usually superior to their US counterparts. For the Pastoral Symphony (unlike the Fifth), I don't own the UK pressing, only my US copy from nearly 50 years ago. While the LP is in good shape, it shows the familiar characteristics that drove American music lovers mad way back when - low-level rustle and muted high frequencies. I have matched my transfer of the US LP to the UK sound as closely as possible; the results are pleasing, I believe.
September 11, 2001
Most American adults will, I am sure, remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001. I happened to be in New York on that day. I was staying in the city on business, and had just arrived at a meeting taking place across the river in New Jersey.
When we heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, I thought it must have been an accident. We were in a building with a clear view across the river at the twin towers. Seeing smoke coming from the building was a strange site, but not as strange as the massive plume of dust - and nothing else - that soon would replace the iconic towers.
We soon were on our way home to the Midwest. So many people were not as fortunate as me - a spectator and not a victim or a participant in the aftermath. They all are in our thoughts today.