Composed for Sir Henry Woods Golden Jubilee concert in 1938, words from The Merchant of Venice, the scene from Portia’s garden. It was created specifically for 16 famous British singers that were pals of Sir Henry, and tailored to their individual
voices. It is a beautiful, beautiful work at RVW lyrical best. Rachmaninov attended the premier and his eyes filled with tears, writing to Sir Henry later: "I have never before been so moved by music."
Seek out the recording conducted by Adrian Boult on EMI or, second best, the Hyperion recording conducted by Matthew Best.First of all, Phideas1, Vaughan Williams DID authorize a full-choir version, so neither version is any more or less authentic. As for which one is “better”, that is purely a matter of individual taste, over which you have no monopoly. Maybe you should download this recording and listen to it – that is, IF you can do it without pre-judging it and not giving it a fair chance.
And as for the 16-soloists recording with Sir Adrian Boult, you’re too late – I already personally provided a link to that very recording in the OP for anybody wishing to hear it. Or didn’t you bother to read the OP before you snatched up your keyboard to pop off another worthless opinion? (I also already told about Rachmaninov weeping in the audience, so you obviously didn’t read the OP.)
I made the mistake ONCE of coming into a thread of yours to say something, and sincerely tried to be nice and diplomatic about it. You blew up like a geyser (or should I say like a kindergartner?), so I have stayed out of your threads ever since, and plan to continue to do so. But since then, you have now come into two of my threads (the other one being the Hanson Syms thread) to make intentionally disparaging remarks, not even trying to be nice or diplomatic. So unless you want me to start flaming every single one of your threads, I suggest you stay out of mine unless you have something complimentary to say.
Have a nice day.
BobtheKnob