| SYMPHONY NO.8 IN D MINOR Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) | |
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Fantasia (Variazioni senza Tema) - Scherzo alla marcia (Per stromenti a fiato) -
Cavatina (Per stromenti ad arco) - Toccata
This symphony was first performed in 1956 by the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, to whom it was dedicated. It is scored for strings, double woodwind, pairs of horns and trumpets, three trombones, timpani harps, celesta and an exotic range of additional percussion. The freshness of invention and the imaginative orchestration of this work belie the age of the composer, who was already eighty-four years old when it was completed. Despite his wry description of the first movement as seven variations in search of a theme - which refers to the fact that he wrote variations 2 - 5 first - its thematic development is masterly and the arrangement of its variations owes much to the sonata principle. |
 The lively scherzo, which is scored for winds alone, contrasts a jocular opening alla marcia theme with a pastoral andante trio in compound time before closing with a brief but rumbustious return of the opening theme. The Cavatina, a much more reflective movement, is scored for strings alone, with Vaughan Williams' string writing at its best, redolent in parts of both Tallis Fantasia and The Lark Ascending. In the youthfully assertive Toccata, Vaughan Williams deftly uses orchestral colour (including "all available hitting instruments with a definite pitch") to highlight each episode of its rondo form, and thus reinforces the movement's complex harmonic scheme, culminating in a triumphant final climax. © J. S. Whitehead March 2001 |