An absolute masterpiece...

The video appears to be that of Prom 54 of the 2008 season, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the death of Vaughan Williams on 26 August. Sir Andrew Davis conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Vaughan Williams programme which, for me, was the culmination of the celebrations of that year. The first half of the concert had the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and Job, while the second half combined the Serenade to Music and Symphony No 9. A wonderful prom - I was sitting in the stalls in a place roughly "opposite" to the Flugelhorn that plays a significant part in the symphony. Symphony No 9 is simply magnificent - and I am looking forward to hearing it live once more in this 150th anniversary year (2022).

7:10 is where the performance begins. One should play it from the start initially, but I want to come back repeatedly to this fine performance. This "enigmatic" piece has been growing on me for the past several years, and I am beginning to agree that it is one of RVW's most important works.

Brooding music, inspired by Thomas Hardy's fatalistic novel rooted in the English landscape. Have any of the film adaptations of Tess of the d'Urbervilles employed RVW's 9th Symphony as its film score? That would be consistent with RVW's Sinfonia Antartica taken from his music for the film Scott of the Antarctic.

Pity this was uploaded in the wrong screen ratio, the video picture being horribly squashed widthways.