That Number Nine Again

This is a pretty straightforward kind of disk, Vaughan Williams Symphony No 8 and Symphony No 9 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink. these are Vaughan Williams's last two symphonies, recorded in the late fifties when he was in his eighties ( yet again the ninth symphony is a composer's final one ). There is no indication whatsoever of any diminution of his powers. The eighth symphony is the lighter work of the two, VW was beginning to experiment with more exotic instrumental combinations and there are vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, tuned gongs and tubular bells. The scherzo is scored for wind instruments only. The slow movement has string writing that is quinessentially Vaughan Williams, however. It is always tempting to try to read more into a fina symphony than is there, particularly since the ninth was completed only months before his death. There isn't any conscious intimation of mortality however, even if the overall mood is a little sombre. There are shards of light that keep on breaking through. Maybe the listener does have extra musical thoughts about final statements and so on but the work doesn't need it, it is a fine symphony. Not in any way "modern" in the sense of fifties and sixties "modern music" but unmistakeably of the 20th century.