Back again, it's John
Barbirolli's classic 1962 recording of
Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony. This time, however, it's not alone as it was on LPs in the sixties and seventies or coupled with
Barbirolli's equally ecstatic 1965 recording of Arnold Bax's Tintagel as it was on its initial CD release in the eighties and nineties, but rather joined by a goodly portion of the English modernist master's shorter orchestral works recorded by Malcolm
Sargent in 1957.
Since the mastering is exactly the same as the previous digital reissue, the sound and performance are exactly the same, too, meaning that the sound is glowing and the performance is rapturous.
Barbirolli's love for the music is obvious, his understanding of the score is complete, and his ability to draw glorious playing from the
Philharmonia is nonpareil. For him, the London strings are sweeter, the woodwinds warmer, the brass mellower, and their blend almost supernaturally radiant. With flowing tempos and luminous textures,
Barbirolli creates an exquisite reading of the Fifth that every enthusiast of English orchestral music ought to hear.
The question is what context to hear it in. While more
Vaughan Williams is always better,
Sargent's
Vaughan Williams is only so-so. His Wasps Overture has plenty of sting and his Serenade to Music has sufficient lyricism, but he never quite makes the music take wing and sing. The
London Symphony Orchestra plays with professional polish, but seems uninspired by either the man on the podium or the music on the stands. On the other hand,
Barbirolli's passionate Tintagel on the earlier CD release is one of the most compelling of all Bax recordings, and though Bax is indubitably no
Vaughan Williams,
Sargent is undeniably no
Barbirolli, and the slightly cramped 1957 sound is no match for the lush 1965 sound. In the final analysis, then, the earlier reissue remains the CD release to beat.