Vaughan Williams: The Collector's Edition - 30 CDs
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Free Music Notes for Vaughan Williams: The Collector's Edition - 30 CDs
Free Music Review: Five stars for such a rare musical opportunity
Hit: 5 Stars
There are some people who want everything for nothing. To carp at the omissions in documentation (libretti etc) is a reflection of sheer greed. EMI has put together a brilliantly representative collection of the work of Vaughan Williams at the lowest price possible. This means compromises like minimal documentations, simple but adequate packaging, packing together on a CD works that don't complement each other just to take best advantage of the space, remasterings that are not recent and therefore not state of the art, etc. If you want to avoid these compromises, then pay for a full-price release!
What you get are recordings ranging from the 60's to the 90's (they are definitely NOT all old) which include performances ranging from 'good' to 'best available'. I am an audiophile with a sound system worth around $20,000 and have the ear of a trained musician. None of the sound is state-of-the-art, but it does range from more than acceptable to very good. As far as I can see, the earlier recordings (and old recordings from the 60's and 70's don't swamp the collection - and there are many who would regret this) have been re-mastered. As I write I am listening to a compilation from late 60's to early 70's, put together and remastered in 1987. The sound is excellent, possibly due to analog originals, although there are some discs where the re-mastering has produced a slight harsh edge.
At $2 per CD, I am happy to get such an excellent coverage of VW's output in performances where the average standard is so high. And the opportunity to get such things as 'Serenade to Music', a piece that rates among the most beautiful compositions ever written, in all three of its versions is a treasure. You will find forgotten treasures here that you would find very difficult to obtain anywhere else.
As to the choral singing: Britain is the home of choral singing and averages the highest standard in the world. I had no more trouble deciphering the diction than I would with other recordings of complex choral/orchestral sound, making a small allowance in a small number of cases for the age of the recording. I must add that choral/choral-orchestral music represents a fairly large part of VW's output.
This set provides an excellent and incredibly inexpensive backbone to your VW collection which will supplement recordings you already have. And it will probably spur you to seek more modern recordings of some discoveries; with others you will be quite satisfied with what you find here. Those who carp at some aspects of the set would seem to want all the features of a new full-priced release for next to nothing. Such ingratitude!
It is my impression VW is not as well-appreciated in the US or Australia as he is in the UK. If you have some of his music and are interested in exploring further, or are starting from scratch this is the ideal purchase to help you. You will not get a poor performance (I've found a short, early track that was poorly miked - unusual for EMI) that will mis-represent a work.
A listing of contents and performers, with a few omissions, probably for contractual reasons, can easily be found by a quick search on the internet.
ADDENDUM DEC 9 After 7 months with this set, I am even more amazed at what value this purchase represented, and what a treasure-trove for exploration of VW's works. I regularly turn to the set to explore another work (and I must admit to a fondness for this composer). I know I am hearing performances that, in the main, have received critical acclaim - and just listening, even though the work may be unfamiliar, you can tell this is an excellent reading: the voice of VW comes through with such surety.
Free Music Review: A Wonderful Overview of RVW's Work
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't usually write reviews, but I thought I'd have a go after reading some of the reviews others have written here. True, there are no lyrics, libretto, or notes in this set. Also, there is no apparent order to the works (chronological would be nice), though the producers at least seemed to try to group certain styles together, which I appreciate. Usually this lack of information bothers me because I like to know as much as possible about who and what I'm listening to. At least the booklet tells the titles of the pieces, their movements, and the performers as well as the dates they were recorded. Just that alone comprises nearly 40 pages. What you get here is good MUSIC and lots of it. I love having the alternate versions - though there are only a few.
If you are new to RVW like I was when I bought this and are interested in getting a fuller picture of his work than what just a symphonies box set or a few "greatest hits"-type CDs can offer, I can without hesitation recommend you purchase this set. It has such a broad range of styles from symphonies, to folk songs, to operas, and more. I made it half way through this box so far and have not heard a bad recording -- quality-wise or performance-wise. I am very pleased with this set and would certainly buy it again if I had to do it all over. Buy it, and you may even find yourself scouring libraries in search of RVW's biography (written by his widow) like I did to learn more about the life of this remarkable composer! This boxed set is highly recommended.
Free Music Review: Great Value, Fine Performances
Hit: 5 Stars
For lovers of Ralph Vaughan Williams' music, the prospect of obtaining most of his works on 30 CDs for $50 or less should be irresistible. It's a great way to fill in the gaps in your collection, or to become acquainted with RVW's less familiar works. Among the highlights of this box are the Serenade to Music and the Pilgrim's Progress (both conducted by Adrian Boult), Partita for Double String Orchestra (Vernon Handley), Riders to the Sea and Sir John in Love (Meredith Davies), Hugh the Drover (Charles Groves), and On Wenlock Edge and Ten Blake Songs (sung by Ian Partridge). Vernon Handley's recordings of the symphonies have received uniform 5-star reviews on Amazon.
In most cases, the performances and sound quality are very good to excellent. Hard-core fans will appreciate the inclusion of variants of a few works, such as the vocal and purely orchestral versions of the Serenade to Music. As would be expected in a compendium of this sort, a few of the items have performances or sound that is less than ideal. For example, Matthew Best's recording of A Song of Thanksgiving is far better than the one included here, but the Hyperion disc is no longer in print, and a used copy costs half as much as this entire package. The booklet lists the performers and the contents of every track, but it lacks both notes and texts. Nonetheless, there's more than enough great stuff here to justify the modest price.
Free Music Review: An extensive glance at Vaughan Williams's work
Hit: 5 Stars
This is indeed a very good opportunity to have a detailed view at this composer's work at a bargain price. To me, it has always been difficult to get Vaughan Williams's recordings as I'm out of the UK, where most of them are released individually. It is great to have a box like this to get closer to this marvellous orchestrator, with his compositions so full of instrumental colour. The price is excellent, the only disappointment is that thera are no booklet notes at all. At least the CD tracking details are ok.Free Music Review: EMI's Vaughan Williams Collection
Hit: 4 Stars
This splendid set, an amazing bargain, provides most of Vaughan Williams's music in various, sometimes relatively recent, vintages of recordings. VW is a vastly underrated composer. Some of the symphonies are bonafide masterpieces, especially numbers 4 and 6, but the London Symphony (#2) and the 8th and 9th are pretty top drawer as well, if not as stunning as 4 and 6. But then, 3 and 5 are excellent in a more "pastoral" way, though hardly the "cow music" written about in a recent New York Times article. If VW has written any "cow music" my ears have never detected it. The First Symphony, however, a choral work based on text by Walt Whitman, is as uncowlike as you can get but too hysterically pitched for my taste (like Mahler's Eighth).
The sublime Tallis Fantasy is given an expert performance, the marvelous Oboe Concerto is well done. The two string quartets are little known but very worth listening to.
In all, at less than $2 per disk, it's hard to see why anyone would turn it down. The set's only serious defect is the pathetically inadequate documentation. One can hardly figure out who's performing what. The disks themselves lack track numbers, very inconvenient, and the booklet lacks notes. But the set is nicely boxed and at this price it seems churlish to quarrel.
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