Vaughan Williams Symphony No 9 - Egarr / Flemish Radio Orchestra - Belgian Premiere

Vaughan Williams's last symphony received its World Premiere in 1958 but had to wait until 2008 for its first performance in Belgium. It was part of a "Tribute to Leopold Stokowski" concert given on 8 March by the Flemish Radio Orchestra under Richard Egarr, a harpsichord specialist who's also a great admirer of the Maestro. His programme also contained several of Stokowski's transcriptions of baroque music, including the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

The Vaughan Williams 9th Symphony was included because Stokowski had given its US Premiere in Carnegie Hall not long after the first performance in the UK. It's a craggy and uncompromising work, unusually featuring three saxophones, which was inspired by the Wessex landscape, Salisbury and its Cathedral, the Solent strait, the 'ghostly drummer of Salisbury Plain' of legend, and Stonehenge.

This concert was recorded off the internet so the sound is somewhat "compressed" but Richard Egarr's performance of Vaughan Williams's 9th is so splendid that it fully deserves a commercial release on CD! Incidentally, the American Premiere of RVW9, conducted by Stokowski in 1958, is currently available on Cala Records (CACD0539).

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