Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 8

Sir Mark Elder conducts the Halle Orchestra on a CD from the orchestra’s own label. 1. Fantasia 0:00 2. Scherzo 11:00 3. Cavatina 14:48 4. Toccata 24:01 RVW’s Eighth Symphony in D minor was written between 1953 and 1955, when the composer was in his early eighties. It is dedicated to Sir John Barbirolli, who gave the first performance. The symphony is the shortest of all the nine symphonies and, perhaps, the most varied in mood. It is remarkably inventive, especially in the composer’s experiments in sonority. Not only does he use a much-expanded percussion section, but the two central movements use only the wind section and string section respectively.