The Naxos release of RVW's 1937 recording of his fourth symphony is not available in the USA owing to differences in copyright between the UK and the USA. I wish it were but this recording was released in yesteryear by Pearl (I think) coupled with the classic performance by RVW of his "Dona Nobis Pacem" for the BBC. Regretably, because the CD is not immediately at hand (it's at my summer house), I cannot verify this info.
The RVW performance of his 4th symphony (in slightly better sound) is also available [url=http://www.emusic.com/album/London-Symphony-Orchestra-HOLST-Planets-The-VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS-Symphony-MP3-Download/10943782.html]here on emusic[/url] in the Naxos Composers Conduct series, coupled with a 1926 recording of Holst conducting the Planets. (Question: why do the spaces either side of a link disappear when one submits a review?)
This is the 1937 recording of the Fourth Symphony, completed 3 years earlier. Although RVW stated it was not written as a musical picture of the European political situation of the time, it’s hard not to have such ideas in mind with the cataclysmic opening. There’s certainly something about the sound of the old recording that reminds one of newsreel footage of armies marching. Ordinarily I wouldn’t recommend that someone new to a work should listen to a historical recording first, but with the composer conducting this is a fine performance. I haven’t downloaded the other symphony (Barbirolli conducting) so I can’t comment there.
I really do not understand why this would get an editor's pick. The rendition is muddy. Both low and high frequencies seem clipped as if it were recorded from some FM station. It is worth listening to, however. To see how Vaughan Williams interprets his own works is always interesting.
