Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis [Davis-BBC Symphony Orchestra]Here's one of two shorter works by Vaughan Williams on this disc, and certainly they're his most famous, this work is scored for strings alone, and it benefits from that, there's no colouring from woodwind and brass, therefore the string writing has a tendency to be more creative, the strings are divided into three parts, giving a terraced feel to the music, a certain three dimensional feel back to front, and not just stereo from left to right, it's a wonderful 15 minutes of an ancient emperor dressed up in modern garb.
Andrew Davis was born in 1944 in England, now Knighted, he recorded this work in 1990, he has also recorded a cycle of Symphonies and works by British Composers [called here 'The British Line'], this disc is considered one of his best, the front cover seems to show a forest decimated by fire, and this goes along with the music in the final movement of the Sixth Symphony, of annihilation and desolation, though possibly just mists over a forest, with a small avatar type picture of the composer, it's a clever concept, but a better picture could have been used.
Here's Andrew Davis conducting the Tallis Fantasia on YouTube.
