Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams)


's Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. It was the first of his symphonies which Vaughan Williams numbered. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the premiere of the piece on 2 May 1956, with the Hallé Orchestra at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.
Symphony No. 8 is the shortest of Vaughan Williams's nine symphonies, with a typical performance taking just under a half hour, yet it is remarkably inventive, especially in the composer's experiments in sonority. Not only does he use a much-expanded percussion section, including "all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer", but the two central movements use only the wind section and string section respectively. Symphony No. 4 is the only other one of his symphonies to end loudly.

Scoring

The symphony is scored for an orchestra with conventional woodwind, brass, and string sections but an augmented percussion section including:
The work is in four movements:
1. Fantasia – the composer also referred to this as being "seven variations in search of a theme." Even though the variation structure predominates the acute listener may notice elements of sonata form.
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2. Scherzo alla marcia – this short, quick march is somewhat akin to that of a British military band. The trio section revisits Vaughan Williams's "pastoral" style.
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3. Cavatina – This movement, in a five-part rondo form, has a meditative character and includes important solo passages for violin and cello. The main theme bears a clear resemblance, which Vaughan Williams acknowledged, to the "Passion" chorale that Bach used several times in the St. Matthew Passion and elsewhere. This movement closes quietly in E major.
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4. Toccata – the finale contains much exuberant writing for the percussion section. Harmonically, the movement seems uncertain of whether to be in D minor or D major. The movement ends loudly with a D, in a D Aeolian context.
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Performance history

The first performance was given by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 2 May 1956. This was recorded by the BBC and subsequently released on disc.
Eugene Ormandy gave the work its U.S. premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra on 5 October 1956. The following year, on 30 June Leopold Stokowski conducted it with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, with the composer present in the Royal Box. Charles Munch conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of the work on 31 October 1957, at Symphony Hall. Ten more performances by the same team followed within three weeks in several cities.

Recordings