VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - SINFONIA ANTARTICA. 3.

SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI
conducting the
HALLE ORCHESTRA and CHOIR
with MARGARET RITCHIE solo soprano.

No date on the record. Early Fifties.
I would imagine it's the first recording of the piece.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• VAUGHAN
• WILLIAMS
• SINFONIA
• ANTARTICA
• HALLE
• ORCHESTRA
• JOHN
• BARBIROLLI
• MARGARET
• RITCHIE

[lizzieissoawleetyeah]

I am pleased to be a part of the large Hallé family, and to know one of the violinists in this - he retired this year after a long and awesome service :-) Yes it isn't VW's best, I admit, but it does capture the stillness and fearful mystery of the poles; that is partly down to the music, though also largely down to the orchestra.

[Polygor2]

@alarryyk

Yeah...if they can do better then let them.

[alarryyk]

good god some of you twats are pretty pretentiously picky

[KrillLiberator]

Most agree it's not the best VW symphony. I'm in the minority but then I have queer tastes. For me the most Sibelian thing to come out of England. Takes Tapiola on even terms and almost pips it imho.

[bally28]

Sibelius 4?? hahaha dream on..rubbish software, it'll never replicate the human touch no matter how clever the A.I is...

BTW, great performance!!

[ianduckworth]

Oh it's not Vaughan Williams greatest symphony by any means. Its a problematic symphony in many ways. But wow what a performance!

[adam28xx]

Barbirolli's "Sinfonia Antartica" mono recording was made in September 1953 and was issued in a 2-CD set by EMI Classics about 10 years ago, along with other works by Vaughan Williams and Elgar. You'll find full details on Amazon! It's still one of the best performances on record but Andre Previn's LSO recording for RCA was a very good stereo version too.

[CucumbersUnite]

yes the music is fantastic and definately one of Vaughan Williams greatest works in my opinion, but the recording quality is, frankly so abismal that the smaller details and delicate balance of instrumentation is lost.

however, the mood this particular performance creates, regardless of the recording, is truley unique and perfectly captures the mood the text is meant to reflect

[MetroidSR388vr]

RE: xwsftassell:

Am I not allowed to express appreciation of this recording without claiming this is RVW's ultimate masterpiece? As you said, "ear of the beholder".

It would be awesome to have this on CD. This captures the effect the piece has live much better than any of the modern recordings... a problem I've noticed in many recordings of this and other pieces with color orchestration is how they put the "swirlies" etc too low in the mix. The problem plagues Petrouchka recordings too.

[MetroidSR388vr]

This blows away any of the newer performances I own of this piece. I'm not convinced it's a great piece, but this certainly captures the mood of it very well.