In his arresting last symphony (the addition of three saxophones to the orchestral fabric is but one striking touch), Vaughan Williams seems to sum up a life fully, if not always happily, lived, and a personal outlook that combined pessimism and agnosticism with faith in the redemptive power of music. He died about a year after finishing the piece, at the age of 85.
Early on, Vaughan Williams was drawn to folk songs and the particular beauty of 16th- and 17th-century British music. Out of such inspirations, he fashioned his own sophisticated style, a style unmistakably and, as musical lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky puts it, "gloriously" English - "nationalistic, but not isolationist."
As reconfirmed by the EMI box, which packs in almost every substantive thing he wrote, from string quartet to opera, Vaughan Williams created a considerable variety of expression, a wealth of imagery and import.
Just the mix of forces for, say, Flos campi is remarkable - viola, chorus and orchestra, all put to transfixing use. A set of songs with poems by William Blake magically uses just voice and oboe. Such novelties as the Tuba Concerto and Romance for harmonica, strings and piano contain much more substance than might be expected. (Sensitive recordings of all these pieces are in the EMI box.)
Whatever elements that his symphonies have in common, each speaks with a distinctive voice.
Several, especially No. 4 and No. 6, still surprise with their edginess or vehemence, while No. 5 never ceases to amaze with its breathtaking lyricism. The majestic sonic vistas of No. 2, A Sea Symphony, still trigger gooseflesh. (The EMI set includes the incisive cycle of the nine symphonies by Vernon Handley and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.)
In 1902, writing about his goals, Vaughan Williams advocated the creation of "real music" in his native country, music that "possesses real feeling and real life." For the rest of his life, that is precisely what he produced - and not just for England, of course.
The truth of his art enriches listeners everywhere.
