Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies No. 2 & No. 8 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Andrew Manze

• 1 I. Lento – Allegro risoluto (molto pesante) 14:29
• 2 II. Lento 10:59
• 3 III. Scherzo (Nocturne) - Allegro vivace 07:55
• 4 IV. Andante con moto – Maestoso alla Marcia (quasi lento) – Allegro – Maestoso alla Marcia (alla I) – Epilogue (Andante sostenuto) 13:19
• 5 I. Fantasia (Variazioni senza tema) 10:47
• 6 II. Scherzo alla marcia (per strumenti a fiato). Allegro alla marcia 03:50
• 7 III. Cavatina (per strumenti ad arco). Lento espressivo 09:03
• 8 IV. Toccata. Moderato maestoso 05:06
• Total Runtime 01:15:28

Info for Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies No. 2 & No. 8

Andrew Manze’s interpretations of Vaughan Williams’ Symphonies have met with acclaim from audiences and critics alike.

This first album in a complete symphony cycle with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra contains „A London Symphony“ and the kaleidoscopically brilliant 8th.

Inspired to write a purely orchestral symphony by his composer friend George Butterworth in 1912, the composer suggested it was ‘a symphony by a Londoner’. The 8th Symphony, scored for ‘all the ’phones and ’spiels known to the composer’, is a highly inventive work from the end of his life of which he said the opening movement was ‘seven variations in search of a theme’.

„Manze’s Vaughan Williams [Symphony No.8] was beautifully imagined from the first gleaming pools of vibraphone and celesta to the carnivalesque scherzo for wind and the tender cavatina for strings.“ (The Times)

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Manze, conductor

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The award-winning Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is the oldest continuing professional symphony orchestra in Britain, dating from 1840. Vasily Petrenko was appointed principal conductor of the orchestra in September 2006 and in September 2009 became chief conductor. The orchestra gives over sixty concerts each season in Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and tours widely throughout the United Kingdom and internationally, touring to China, Japan, Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Romania and the Czech Republic. World première performances have included major works by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir John Tavener, Sir James MacMillan, Karl Jenkins, Stewart Copeland, Michael Nyman, Michael Torke, Nico Muhly and James Horner, alongside works by Liverpool-born and North West-based composers. Recent additions with Vasily Petrenko to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s extensive and critically acclaimed recording catalogue include Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony [Naxos 8.570568] (2009 Gramophone Awards Orchestral Recording of the Year), the world première performance of Sir John Tavener’s Requiem, a complete Shostakovich symphony cycle (the recording of Symphony No. 10 [Naxos 8.572461] was the 2011 Gramophone Awards Orchestral Recording of the Year), Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 and Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (with Simon Trpčeski), Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (also with Trpčeski), Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 and Cockaigne Overture; and Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 5.

Andrew Manze
is widely celebrated as one of the most stimulating and inspirational conductors of his generation. His extensive and scholarly knowledge of the repertoire, together with his rare skill as a communicator and his boundless energy, mark him out.

As a guest conductor, Manze has regular relationships with a number of leading international orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg and the Scottish and Swedish Chamber Orchestras. He is also a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City.

In September 2014 Manze became the Principal Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover. Together, they have embarked on a major series of recordings for Pentatone, the first of which will be released in early 2017. In addition to a busy touring schedule within Germany, they will tour to China and South Korea in autumn 2016 with Sir András Schiff as soloist.

In the next seasons, Manze will make his debut with the Concertgebouw Orkest, Bamberg Symphony, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Melbourne Symphony and Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg. He has a close relationship with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he is the process of recording the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies for Onyx Classics.

From 2006-14, Manze was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. With the orchestra, he made a number of recordings, including Beethoven Eroica (Harmonia Mundi) and a cycle of Brahms symphonies (CPO). From September 2010 to August 2014, Manze held the title of Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2011.

After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Manze studied the violin and rapidly became a leading specialist in the world of historical performance practice. He became Associate Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in 1996 and then Artistic Director of the English Concert from 2003 to 2007. As a violinist, Manze has released an astonishing variety of CDs, many of them award-winning.

Manze is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concertos by Mozart and Bach published by Bärenreiter, Breitkopf and Härtel. He also teaches, edits and writes about music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television.

In November 2011 Andrew Manze received the prestigious ‘Rolf Schock Prize’ in Stockholm. Previous winners include Ligeti, Kagel, Saariaho, Panula, Gidon Kremer and Anne Sofie von Otter.

Booklet for Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies No. 2 & No. 8