Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

Album review

"Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony receives a terrific reading… [the] first movement full of teeming energy and the recorded sound adds to the impact. … An expertly judged slow movement offers refined playing but they and Davis make the climaxes ardent. The Scherzo is really incisive… the finale explodes into life and the LSO brass is on trenchant form… Davis keeps the performance rock-steady and they achieve great clarity… hard to understand why it was never issued separately – greatly to be welcomed!” (MusicWeb International)

"I found [Marriner's Fifth Symphony] far more communicative... Marriner conveys a greater sense of radiance and warmth and a greater awareness of the underlying forces beneath the surface (the final movement is particularly well done)” (Gramophone).

Alto Records brings together two outstanding recordings of Vaughan Williams's Symphonies - Sir Colin Davis's blockbuster performance of the Fourth Symphony, originally released in a limited-edition set and issued for the first time on an individual album, coupled with Neville Marriner's forceful yet colorful recording of the wartime Fifth Symphony, acclaimed critically when it was first released three decades ago but hard to find outside of the UK. © Musical Concepts