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 [log in to unmask]