Audition: Vaughan Williams - 6th Symphony - Berglund

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Berglund

EMI: 1974

Paavo Bergland was the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra when this recording was made and it sounds like it. All sections of the orchestra were on top form and the EMI recording was very good, so good this deserves an SACD or high definition Remaster release.

Vaughan Williams who was part of a powerful set of composers who were tackling the after the consequences of the horrors of the Second World War and for that we must be glad because very few and William six symphonies were on the record shelves when this was made. The symphony was taken up worldwide after the first performance - surely an indication of its excellence and relevance to post/cold war sensibilities.  America took to it but one wonders how continental Europe reacted to it.  As far as I can tell Berglund  is one of a handful of Scandinavians who took up the work.

What the orchestra gained from previous directors were discipline and finesse what Berglund brought was the kind of refined firepower which allowed them to traverse formidable symphonies.  The sound could be overwhelming and terrifying but in this recording addition the orchestra is also required to deploy pin point accuracy at very low dynamics. This score highlights most of the orchestral instruments including saxophone, bass clarinet and drums against a very varied background. The results are impressive from a provincial orchestra which survives though local audiences.

The work moves quickly both in colour and line and Berglund and his players meet all the challenges with an unforced transparency. On the other side of the dynamic range and probably better than most Berglund makes a lot of the overlapping repeated rhythmic changes.  It’s a fierce symphony and he does well, yielding consistent dynamics and best of all seamless transitions of mood.

As a reading it is menacing, colourful and powerful without much competition in my book. My only gripe is that he can’t quite keep a flat calm in the last movement to my ear it seems louder than necessary (perhaps to allow sound engineering). So I wonder if it truly displays the program of the symphony properly and the potential horror of that movement especially. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt