Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote nine symphonies. Tonight, the middle three were lined up in an engrossing triptych, written by a mature composer who, in his sixties and seventies, showed no lack of energy. Andrew Manze, Associate Guest conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, took a relaxed approach to all three allowing the emotion written into the score to emerge unrepressed.
Vaughan Williams may not have held it dear but there is much to like about his Symphony No, 4 in F minor. It has not the beauty of No. 5 nor the momentum of No. 6, but this early 1930s work conveys a sense of anxiety. It can be plausibly argued that it reflects the British pre-war collective consciousness of fear and confusion, despite the composer’s insistence that he did not intend such a reflection. It’s not an elegant piece, the opening Allegro laden with relatively aggressive dissonance and sometimes disjointed phrases which seem hesitant or fearful. Yet it does hold allure in its range of moods and use of the large orchestra to create different atmospheres.
The orchestra captured the unsettled tone well and carried it through the Andante Moderato and a darkly humorous Scherzo. Here the syncopated rhythms Heavy use of lively symcopated rhythms created unease rather than lightening the mood, leading into the complex final movement which refuses to allow the satisfaction of a fully resolved ending. Symphony No. 5, composed over the five years up to 1943, is quite a contrast to its predecessor in many ways. It begins not angrily but with horns - only three of them in this instance – in the home key of D. It’s moody like the Fourth, but dares to sound optimistic at moments, eventually breaking into tunes with a choral ebullience. When they emerged, the melodies woven into the orchestration sounded exquisite, executed delicately by the orchestra. The Scherzo, Romanza and generally calmer Passacaglia (climax excepted) returned to the tempestuous, uneven nature of all three of tonight’s Symphonies.