Search - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra :: Vaughan Williams: Hodie (Fantasia on Christmas Carols)

This Hodie is a Joyless Disappointment

J P Falcon | Fords, New Jersey United States | 12/09/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ralph Vaughan William's Hodie is a fantastic Christmas work scored for soloists, choirs and full orchestra. There have only been a handful of recordings over the years and until this NAXOS release, there were only two versions available. Both are on the EMI label and are conducted by David Willcocks and Richard Hickox. The Willcocks is the benchmark recording and I was hoping that this new NAXOS version would be better, or at least equal to it, with improved sound. Unfortunately, this is not the case.



Hilary Davan Wetton delivers a sluggish and uninspired interpretation of this choral masterpiece. His heavy handed conducting robs the festive moments of their power and creates overblown drama during the more medatative moments. I started to wonder if Wetton was aware that this is a celebratory work of the Birth and the season and that it was not a Passion Play. The soloist and chorus perform admirably but they cannot overcome Wetton's bloated tempi. I also found the sound below par. While it was nice to hear the organ, percussion, and brass clearly, this came at the expense of the strings. Many of the beautiful string lines are lost due to the poor balancing of instrument sections.



Surprisingly the Fantasia on Christmas Carols fares much better, and had Wetton invested Hodie with the same enthusiasm, my review would be much different.



So there you have it. Hodie should be part of your Christmas tradition as it will lift the haze of seasonal blues from your heart and remind you what the day is actually about. To accomplish this however, you need to steer clear of this recording and make your way to the David Willcocks EMI recording. It is at a budget price and costs less than this NAXOS fiasco. Hodie / Fantasia on Christmas Carols



Wetton's version of Vaughan William's Hodie places a distant third in a three horse race. Not recommended..........

"