Malcolm Sargent on Vaughan Williams’ Sixth Symphony

Conductor Malcolm Sargent on Vaughan Williams’ Sixth Symphony:

A frightening symphony. For a symphony to be frightening is perhaps a good thing. Here we have the complete testament of a man who, in his seventies, looks back on the human sufferings of his time. I never conduct the Sixth without feeling that I am walking across bomb sites. . . . Chaos, despair, desolation and the peace that flows from desolation.

Charles Reid (1968) Malcolm Sargent. London: Hamish Hamilton, p.357.
Cited in: Holmes, John (1993) Conductors on Composers. Westport: Greenwood, p.195.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

, ,

Featured Content

Beethoven in code
The first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony are the morse code for the letter V.
Wexford Carol (SATB and piano)
Title: Wexford Carol Text: 12th century Irish Composer: 12th century Irish, arr. Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano     Related products:     – Wexford Carol – SATB and organ (PDF score) Product medium: PDF score and parts Sample:
Scores
Brass Brass ensemble Trombone Piano Piano solo Piano method Orchestra and concert band Concert band Strings Cello and piano String ensemble Vocal and choral General Sacred Woodwind Bassoon
Playing with fantasy
“Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.” – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology Quoted at QuotationsBook  
Ravel’s fashion sense
Ravel was always particular about his sense of fashion.  As Léon-Paul Fargue recalled: Even when he was wasted by illness, Ravel never appeared unkept even among his closest friends.  All his life he kept the perfect, discriminating taste which led him to match his braces to his blue or pink silk shirts, much to the […]
Jean Sibelius: Bagatelles (op. 97)
(i) Humoresque I (ii) Song (iii) Little Waltz (iv) Humorous March (v) Impromptu “Never write an unnecessary note. Every note must live”.1 — Sibelius The miniature is the perfect genre to master this philosophy. Sibelius wrote the Opus 97 Bagatelles in 1920, in between his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. The quirky nature of these Bagatelles […]
Mass of Solidarity
Title: Mass of Solidarity Text: Roman Catholic Mass Composer: Greg Smith Sections: – Penitential rite – Gloria – Gospel acclamation – Creed – Holy – Eucharistic acclamations – Amen – Lamb of God Additional: – Gospel acclamations for Lent (Glory and Praise to You) – Gospel acclamations for specific Sundays or Feasts available on request. Instrumentation: – SATB […]
Feeling a bond with your instrument
“Research in Finland has uncovered the benefits of feeling a bond with your instrument. 51 per cent of musicians surveyed reported that they were united with my instrument/voice during performance that there is no difference between us. When this bond is complete, performers may enter in a state of intense concentration, causing them to lose […]
Music: the product of feeling and knowledge
Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge, for it requires from its disciples, composers and performers alike, not only talent and enthusiasm, but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection. Hector Berlioz, A Travers Chants. Cited in I. Lipsius, Thoughts of Great Musicians, London, Augener, […]
Creativity between now and Tuesday
“Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.” – Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s corporation