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SOMM RECORDINGS celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams' birth with definitive, newly remastered performances by Lani Spahr of his ever-popular The Wasps Overture and two symphonies - the startling Sixth and, in it's world premiere performance, the valedictorian Ninth - with Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As Simon Heffer comments in his authoritative booklet notes, this major new is notable for containing historical performances (from 1957, 1958 and 1964), for Spahr's meticulous restorations, and for offering Incha clear indication of the genius ofInch Sargent. From the 1957 BBC Proms, The Wasps Overture blends Ravelian influences with English folk songs to produce a vivaciously genial impression of RVW at his most distinctively infectious. Recorded in 1964 and again for the BBC Proms, the Sixth Symphony - a 'war symphony' in all but name - is, as Heffer notes, Inchrich in orchestral experiment, more innovative than perhaps any other work in the composer's canon, and whose enigmas and mysteries still remain to be decipheredInch. RVW's final, Ninth Symphony, Incha work of beauty and grandeur, and a magisterial signing offInch, says Heffer, is heard here in splendidly remastered audio in it's very first performance in April 1958, four months before the composer's death, by Sargent and the RPO. SOMM's previous Vaughan Williams recordings include Symphony No.5 and Dona Nobis Pacem with the BBCSO (SOMMCD 071), Incha mandatory purchase for all lovers of Vaughan Williams's music and, frankly, a priceless documentInch (MusicWeb International). And the InchcompellingInch (International Piano) The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Mark Bebbington and Rebecca Omordia (SOMMCD 0164). Lani Spahr's previous, universally acclaimed SOMM restorations include Elgar Rediscovered (SOMMCD 0167) and the
