Re: VW recordings


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Posted by Rick Denney on March 03, 2004 at 15:59:27:

In Reply to: VW recordings posted by Mike on March 03, 2004 at 01:55:17:

It's hard for me to nail down a favorite. There are things I like about each of them:

Fletcher gets an ethereal tone, and he is recorded with the orchestra instead of sounding like his solo was dubbed on top of the accompaniment. Before listening to the Nickel recording, I thought it hands down the definitive recording of the work. It still may be the best, but he takes liberties with what I see written on the page.

Lind plays beautifully, but it's almost too beautiful. He and Fletcher both play the work with the big slurs that are not in the Oxford edition. I have to say that Lind's intonation sounds a bit strange at times and his sound on the recording seems disconnected from the orchestra. I'd be happy to hear his version without the accompaniment.

There is a special place in my heart for Hans Nickel's version. He plays it exactly as written, and is the first to do so to really make music of it. His rendition is a lot more about humor than beauty, and I think that's appropriate based on the comments of the composer. The sound he gets is fat with a little edge to it. It's not as beautiful as Fletcher or Lind, but it has more personality to my ears. And it comes on the same CD with the Gregson with orchestral accompaniment, which was a revelation for me. His playing reshaped my notion of what an F tuba should sound like.

There are two versions where the artists used the old-style Besson compensating F, and the sound that each gets is fuzzy and unfocused by comparison to the three mentioned above. That distracts me from their interpretation. One of these versions is clipped--played as written but moreso, and without the musical intention of playing short. Parts of the other one, by all accounts including his own, were recorded in rehearsal and not supposed to be the final cuts.

I have the Dowling recording (somewhere) but have not listened to it in a long time. I remember it being quite competent, but it seemed "another recording of the RVW" at the time.

Do a search on "cantuballada" and you should find other comments made on these versions. That's the name of the Nickel CD.

Rick "who thinks Dr. Vaughan Williams would be amused by all the study of this least of his broad ouvre" Denney


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