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Track Listings
| 1. I. Preludio: Moderato |
| 2. II. Scherzo: Presto Misterioso |
| 3. III. Romanza: Lento |
| 4. IV. Passacaglia: Moderato |
| 5. Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By And/Burro
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I didn't expect to buy another version of Vaughan Williams' beautiful symphony No.5, especially having Boult/LPO,Handley/RLPO and Previn/LSO recordings in my collection. My favourite is Andre Previns', having all the LSO/Vaughan Williams symphonies on cassette years ago. For me, and a lot of people, they are the definitive collection. So when Previn and the RPO recorded the symphony No.5 in 1988 I was very curious to compare it with his earlier LSO one. I was not disappointed, with the RPO producing a rich and fine sound, along with the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. So did they better the LSO recording? Well, in my view, they certainly equalled it, but only because Andre Previn was conducting of course.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By D. Angelis
Format:Audio CD
There's a lot been written about the approach that Telarc has to recording. I first heard about it in the early 80's with warnings in the hi-fi press about blown tweeters and the like.
Basically, from a technical standpoint, it's down to whether you want your music to sound like it's happening in front of you. With this CD it does. I've heard this piece live a couple of times (although not with Mr.Preview) and the Telarc comes so much closer to the 'real thing' than the EMI or Decca releases, and I own both. As a caveat, this release is no good in the car unless you drive a Daimler or similar, as you simply can't hear the quiet passages over the road and engine noise. But at home it's a different story. My set-up is good, but not phenomenal, and the music sings out. The first movement awakens slowly and the story unfolds before your ears.
Mr. Previews' reading of Vaughan Williams is just wonderful. I have recordings by Boult and Handley, both of which are of course excellent. I don't know... I suppose I simply like the way Mr.Preview does things as I have his Rachmaninov symphony and concerto readings, both on Telarc and others... Although I don't have them by anyone else, apart from Rachmaninov himself.
This stuff makes the hairs on my arms stand up, and the Telarc releases especially so. For me the combination of 'real and un-tweaked' recording, Preview and VW are simply wonderful.
Basically, from a technical standpoint, it's down to whether you want your music to sound like it's happening in front of you. With this CD it does. I've heard this piece live a couple of times (although not with Mr.Preview) and the Telarc comes so much closer to the 'real thing' than the EMI or Decca releases, and I own both. As a caveat, this release is no good in the car unless you drive a Daimler or similar, as you simply can't hear the quiet passages over the road and engine noise. But at home it's a different story. My set-up is good, but not phenomenal, and the music sings out. The first movement awakens slowly and the story unfolds before your ears.
Mr. Previews' reading of Vaughan Williams is just wonderful. I have recordings by Boult and Handley, both of which are of course excellent. I don't know... I suppose I simply like the way Mr.Preview does things as I have his Rachmaninov symphony and concerto readings, both on Telarc and others... Although I don't have them by anyone else, apart from Rachmaninov himself.
This stuff makes the hairs on my arms stand up, and the Telarc releases especially so. For me the combination of 'real and un-tweaked' recording, Preview and VW are simply wonderful.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
7 reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A passionate interpretation of RVW beloved 5th
18 April 2000
By N. Daniele Pietro
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
This 5th is often regarded as RVW's symphonic masterpiece. The 9 symphonies are so wonderfully varied and so uniformly top-quality that's really impossible for me to pick up just one, but the 5th is surely one of the best and the most spiritually searching. The composer quotes some themes from religious works and blends them seamlessly in the flow of his own inspiration. The character of the music is essentially reflective and the orchestration, based mainly on the strings, is wonderfully rich yet transparent. Still, RVW was anything but a simple, one-sided man, and even here there's a hint of unease, a subterranean flow of anguish that always suggested me the troubled search for the Answer, rather than the affirmation of a man that already found it. Thinking about this, the final climax sounds even more jubilant and musically effective. Previn, one of the best interpreters of British music, gives us a deeply-felt, slowly paced, ravishingly played account of this work. Maybe the disturbing elements are not so apparent here (if you want that, listen to Haitink's equally refined but cooler version - I love them both), but as a perfectly idiomatic, lovingly respectful view of this work, this is the best modern recording that I know. (...) Previn's kind of approach is even more effective with the Tallis Fantasia, an endlessly fascinating piece indeed which receives a first-rate interpretation. (On my list , though, it has been displaced by the incredible 1975 Stokowski recording with this same orchestra- see review) The sound of a RPO on top-form is very well captured by Telarc, with none of the engineering problems that, to my ears, marred Previn's digital "London".
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 5 To Own
9 Sep 2009
By Transfigured Knight
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I own around twelve versions of Vaughan Williams' "Symphony No. 5." I have been disappointed with a few of them like Vernon Handley's (RLPO/EMI) and Andre Previn's (LSO/RCA) first recording of it where the performance was good, but the audio quality was horrible. This Previn/RPO reading on Telarc is a whole new animal altogether. Finally, we can hear Previn's thoughts on this symphony in great audio and this is an amazing reading. It's the best I've heard. Not very often do you have a combination of great audio and performance, but this one really took me by surprise.
I'm particularly moved by the "Romanza (Lento)" section, which all RVW fans know like the back of their hands. The Royal Philharmonic's strings are lush, the woodwinds soaring, it's a spectacle to behold. This is by far the best "Romanza" movement I've heard and it's also the longest lasting around 13 minutes. This, of course, is not to say the rest of the symphony isn't good, but the third movement is this symphony's best feature. I've never been too impressed with the first movement, it's good, but the "Scherzo" movement forward are pure sonic marvels.
The "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" also receives a great reading as well. Previn has turned in one of the best performances of his career here and who would've known? Highly recommended.
I'm particularly moved by the "Romanza (Lento)" section, which all RVW fans know like the back of their hands. The Royal Philharmonic's strings are lush, the woodwinds soaring, it's a spectacle to behold. This is by far the best "Romanza" movement I've heard and it's also the longest lasting around 13 minutes. This, of course, is not to say the rest of the symphony isn't good, but the third movement is this symphony's best feature. I've never been too impressed with the first movement, it's good, but the "Scherzo" movement forward are pure sonic marvels.
The "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" also receives a great reading as well. Previn has turned in one of the best performances of his career here and who would've known? Highly recommended.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
How to make this enigmatic symphony "spreak"?
4 Jun 2006
By Santa Fe Listener
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Those who are already in love with VW's symphonies already know, when it comes to the Fifth, what they like. This symphony is a dreamy pastorale caught between two agitated, disturbing works in the Fourth and Sixth. Did VW intend for the overtly nostalgic spiritualized Fifth to carry a hint of disturbane itself? Previn doesn't believe so--both of his readings are slow, languorous, and lush. The earlier RCA version has scrappy sound, which is too bad, because it is marginally more energetic than the Telarc remake with the Royal Phil, which boasts quite gorgeous sound. Also, the RCA has more interesting fillers than the too often paired Tallis Fantasia on Telarc.
I happened to hear Previn conduct the Fifth with the Boston Sym.--a rare occurence on this side of the Atlantic--and the audience was bored; the music didn't speak to them, and Previn's tempos over the years have gotten even slower. I think the Fifth needs more urgency, less dreaminess, and some sharp edges. You won't get that from Previn (or Haitink or Slatkin), but two old masters, Barbirolli and Boult, especially the latter, come through. Boult's EMI recording with the London Phil. has inner life and urgency, and I'd rate it the best performance I've ever heard.
P.S. Aug. 2009 - I happened to hear this CD again at a friend's house in London, and maybe its the ambience, but I feel I shortchanged Previn's reading. In terms of recorded sound and orchestral glow, this 1988 recording outshines his earlier VW Fifth on RCA. There's a nobility here that I didn't hear before, and many forceful touches that I now appreciate. Let's say four stars at the very least.
I happened to hear Previn conduct the Fifth with the Boston Sym.--a rare occurence on this side of the Atlantic--and the audience was bored; the music didn't speak to them, and Previn's tempos over the years have gotten even slower. I think the Fifth needs more urgency, less dreaminess, and some sharp edges. You won't get that from Previn (or Haitink or Slatkin), but two old masters, Barbirolli and Boult, especially the latter, come through. Boult's EMI recording with the London Phil. has inner life and urgency, and I'd rate it the best performance I've ever heard.
P.S. Aug. 2009 - I happened to hear this CD again at a friend's house in London, and maybe its the ambience, but I feel I shortchanged Previn's reading. In terms of recorded sound and orchestral glow, this 1988 recording outshines his earlier VW Fifth on RCA. There's a nobility here that I didn't hear before, and many forceful touches that I now appreciate. Let's say four stars at the very least.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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