Search - Vaughan Williams, Bean, Music Group of London :: Violin Sonata / String Quartet

THE LARK ASCENDS

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 08/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Strikingly fresh performances by the Music Group of London, entirely idiomatic and immersed, grace this generous collection of rarely heard chamber music by Vaughan Williams that spans the breadth of his artistic life. The set opens, interestingly enough, with the composer's late Violin Sonata (1954), a work whose three movements offer the most startling contrasts, from spiky virtuosity to meditative nostalgia. And speaking of nostalgia, programmed next is the haunting and atmospheric Phantasy Quintet (1912), a composition that, above all, seems the epitome of Vaughan Williams' art, and the closest to his emotional center. The following group of Six Studies in English Folk-Song (1926) retains the same exquisite lyricism as the Quintet, if not even more distilled. Although the tunes are obviously not original, the composer's beautiful "arrangements" of them, and their thematic interconnections, easily make you feel otherwise. And speaking of contrasts, the String Quartet in Am (1943/47) bookends the CD with a work akin to the opening Violin Sonata in its use of diverse, wandering tonality, rhythmic variety and deep instrumental expression. Dedicated to the composer's friend, violist Jean Stewart, this second of his two string quartets is a curiously unnerving, reflective and unforgettable composition, and a masterstroke conclusion to an entirely irresistible recording.



[Running time: 73:48]

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