Page 456 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

Alexander Gibson’s performance of the Fifth. It was then reissued on a
double album in the EMI Classics British Composers series, in a varied and
satisfying programme that includes Paavo Berglund’s superb performance of
the Fourth Symphony. Gibson’s Fifth is something of a dark horse in the
symphony’s discography. It is very well played and beautifully recorded. It is
quite a dramatic reading, with few signs of self-indulgence on the conductor’s
part. If this sounds clinical the result is anything but, with most of Gibson’s
interpretive decisions sounding spontaneous and right, though not everyone
will appreciate the dramatic pauses he introduces on a couple of occasions to
underline key moments. The Romanza is deeply felt at a fairly slow basic
tempo, and the finale progresses from genial good nature to serene
transcendence in a most satisfactory manner. Jeffrey Davis wrote about this
performance in the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal. ‘Although
largely unsung in its day, I regard it as one of the finest recordings of the
Fifth, with an especially deeply felt and spiritually uplifting slow movement.
The horn calls in the last movement are taken faster than usual, but it works,
to very moving effect, in Gibson’s overall conception. Gibson, like Berglund,
was an eloquent champion of Sibelius and I was often reminded of the great
Finn’s Sixth Symphony while listening to this recording. Vaughan Williams’s
Fifth is, after all, dedicated “without permission” to Sibelius.’ I agree with
every word.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky/USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony
Orchestra, 1988 (Melodiya)
This performance is part of a complete cycle of Vaughan Williams
symphonies recorded live in Leningrad (review). The set caught many of the
Vaughan Williams fraternity unawares. There are a few minor mishaps, plus
a couple of unfortunate howlers. Audience noise is acceptable, and applause
is retained. The Leningrad public seem to have enjoyed themselves. I wrote
about Rozhdestvensky’s Fifth recorded in London in 1980, a performance I
enjoyed and still enjoy, in my earlier article. Ethereal playing from the
Leningrad violins sets the scene for a particularly pensive first movement.
Rozhdestvensky sets a measured basic tempo which fluctuates as the will
takes him. The pianissimo playing from the strings in the faster, central
section is outstanding, but they needed a bit more help from their conductor
to maintain perfect ensemble in this tricky passage. The build-up to the
movement’s main climax is superb, and Rozhdestvensky pulls no punches.
The coda is resigned, even rather pastoral, rather than bleak. The second
movement is again on the slow side, a country dance rather than the
composer’s Presto mysterioso. I find it effective and convincing. The opening
chords of the Bunyan-inspired slow movement are rapt and perfectly
balanced. Rozhdestvensky does not linger where it would be easy to over-
indulge, which is fine by me. If the finale had been of the same standard this
would have qualified as a great performance, but Rozhdestvensky is less
successful than he was in 1980 at capturing the smile in the music at the
outset. The central section of the movement is very slow indeed, with a
gradual acceleration towards the main climax which is not ineffective, but will
upset Vaughan Williams purists. The unforgettable final pages are sensitively