Part 1
Myra Hess (piano). BBC Symphony Orchestra (leader, Paul Beard ) : conductor, Sir Adrian Boult
From a concert-hall in the South
Vaughan Williams's Symphony in D, dedicated to Sibelius, is scored for a classical orchestra, with nearly all double-wind. The writing is flowing and smooth and the colouring very delicate. From the point of view of form the first movement is perhaps the finest, but the most expressive is the lovely * Romanza ', which is inscribed with the following words: ' Upon ' that place there stood a Cross and a little below a sepulchre.- Then he said : " He hath given me rest by his sorrow and life .by his death " '. The finale is a passacaglia; contemplative in mood and moderate in tempo. The work is rounded off with a lovely epilogue.