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| Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Fantasia on | 
 enlarge | Creators: Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Barbirolli, Allegri String Quartet, City Of London Sinfonia, London Sinfonia, Sinfonia Of London
Label: EMI Classics
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $7.24
You Save: $4.74 (40%)
Buy New/Used from $6.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  (20 reviews)
Sales Rank: 18154
Format: Original Recording Reissued
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.2
MPN: 67264
UPC: 724356726420
EAN: 0724356726420
ASIN: B00004R95R
Release Date: March 14, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Introduction And Allegro, Op.47 | | • | I. Allegro Piacevole | | • | II. Larghetto | | • | III. Allegretto - Come Prima | | • | Elegy, Op.58 | | • | Sospiri, Op. 70 | | • | Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis | | • | Fantasia On 'Greensleeves' - Ralph Vaughan Williams |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
More Elgar than Vaughan Williams July 4, 2008
You buy this more for the Elgar than for the Vaughan Williams. I see some previous reviewers saying that this is the best recording ever made of the Tallis Fantasia by Vaughan Williams. With all due respect, this piece has been recorded dozens of times? Hundreds of times? It is the rare listener who has surveyed all those recordings to truly determine which is best. This is a good recording of the Tallis Fantasia. Because the piece is so great, it's hard to make a bad recording as long as you have a good string section and good recorded sound. For me, Barbirolli interrupts the flow a bit in the big unison section towards the end. So for me it's not the greatest recording ever, but it's damn good.
On the other hand, it's hard to imagine these Elgar performances being surpassed anytime soon. If you don't believe me, check out the two short pieces, the Elegy and Sospiri. Barbirolli invests these slight and even somewhat nondescript pieces with such intense feeling! I don't mean this in a negative way, but they almost sound like very Romantic movie music here, with surging strings! The Serenade has been done well by many conductors; this is a charming performance that really brings out a lot of detail. The Introduction and Allegro is a piece that requires special advocacy. In fact, I never even liked the piece until I heard this record. Barbirolli really "sells" this music as though it were one of Elgar's greatest compositions, and you will buy what he is selling!
Buy this one for the four short pieces by Elgar, especially if you don't have any Elgar in your collection.
Vaughn Williams September 15, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is truly beautiful music. It is soft and soothing but it is not elevator music. It has intellectual and emotional depth. Listening to Vaughn Willimas's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis my imagination was triggered with streams of images and deep feeling.
Fantasia on a Theme-Vaughan Williams March 28, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is beautiful. Imagine music to the sun rising, or the view from a mountain top, above the clouds, the sun rising and the grandeur of the vision before you is put to music. This is it.
barbirolli at his best March 10, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first heard Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings in a DG recording by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; when I saw this recording in my college library, I thought to myself, "I wonder if Barbirolli can play it better..."
Barbirolli seems to have Midas' touch with British orchestral music - and this repertoire brings out some of his best qualities (namely the string playing). The London Sinfonia is just as good as any chamber orchestra out there (including their fellow countrymen, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields), and overall this is a wonderful performance. Both Vaughan Williams pieces are especially refreshing - especially the Thomas Tallis Fantasia.
Wonderful! January 11, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This CD is a must have if you are an Elgar and Vaughan Williams fan, particularly the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. This particular 1966 recording with the Sinfonia of London, Allegri String Quartet and the New Philharmonia Orc. under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli is unsurpassed and Wonderful.
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