Classical home listening - Vaughan Williams, Paganini and Ysaÿe

The Guardian 0

The LSO and Pappano fire on all cylinders in RVW’s war-straddling Symphonies 4 and 6. And Alina Ibragimova’s Paganini Caprices astound

• Coinciding with Antonio Pappano’s appointment as its new chief conductor, the London Symphony Orchestra has released a covetable recording of works by Vaughan Williams: his Symphonies Nos 4 and 6 (LSO Live). The Fourth (1935), in F minor, singular in its ferocity, opens with fortissimo dissonance, strings clawing upwards over grinding brass and ominous kettle drums. In its restless energy, and in the shading of its reflective interludes, this performance is alive with risk, the sound clean and detailed.

The Sixth (1948), in E minor, with its ebb and flow from roaring torment to hushed anguish, seems embedded in the times it was written, despite RVW pleading to let his music speak for itself. Take a look at Paul Nash’s painting Totes Meer (1941) then go back and listen to the parched, barren Epilogue of No 6, as remarkable as anything the composer wrote. Recorded live at the Barbican on 15 March 2020, the LSO’s account has its own temporal intensity.