Talk:Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams)

I wouldn't call some of this symphony "light-hearted". It has moments of real reflection and foreboding mystery.

The British Pye LP of the late 1950s (essentially a celebration of the Halle premiere under Barbirolli) reproduced the composer's programme note, which is the source for the majority of the "citations needed" points in the article, including the "'phones and spiels". I don't have it just now, but memory suggests it doesn't include a reference to the "passion chorale" being used in the third movement. But this should be easy enough to check. Interestingly, V-W did, in fact, conduct the Halle orchestra and choir in Manchester in the St Matthew Passion (his own performing version as per the Leith Hill festival) a year or two before the premiere, so it's not impossible that that he did include it as a personal reference. I'm not sure about the comparison of the second movement scoring to a "British military band" - not least because it doesn't employ percussion.Delahays (talk) 14:50, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

One source for the Passion Chorale reference would appear to be an online Philharmonia programme note for the work, dated 2008, by Michael Kennedy, who says he is quoting the composer, who says he is mixing the theme up in his mind with "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden". Unfortunately Kennedy doesn't amplify this. I will check the original Halle Programme note by RVW when I can.Delahays (talk) 15:52, 26 August 2012 (UTC)