VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No 2 (A London Symphony) - Original Version.
BUTTERWORTH: The Banks of Green Willow.
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox.
Chandos CHAN 9022.  67:38

It was George Butterworth who first suggested to Vaughan Williams the idea
of writing a symphony inspired by London, and he is the dedicatee of the
symphony.  His short idyll begins the CD.

The first version of the London Symphony dates from 1913.  Vaughan Williams
sought opinions from a number of people, including Butterworth, Bax and
Holst, and revised it several times, the final version in 1933.  The 1913
version which is presented here contains about twenty additional minutes of
music according to the sticker on the cover, although this depends on your
favourite version.  Vaughan Williams did not revise the first movement, but
there is extra music in each the other movements, most substantially in the
final movement.  There seem also to be slight differences in the
orchestration of the familiar music.

Your view of this work may depend on whether you think of it as a musical
depiction of London, or simply as absolute music.  Maybe this analogy is
appropriate: Among the versions of the work I own are two on LP conducted
by Sir Adrian Boult.  On one cover is a sunny photo of the houses of
parliament, on the other, one of Monet's paintings of Charing Cross Bridge
seen through fog.  The original version is much closer to Monet: more
mysterious, more edgy, more darkly Dickensian, perhaps.

To give some idea of the extent of what's missing from the familiar
version, a comparison with my favourite version by Barbirolli:

     Barbirolli   Hickox
1.     13:59      15:07
2.     11:38      16:16
3.      7:29      11:05
4.     13:14      18:50

Total  46:20      61:18

There seems little point in trying to describe what the new music sounds
like.  I urge anyone who loves this wonderful symphony to hear the
original.  I hope you are as intrigued by it as I have been.

Richard Pennycuick
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