02. - 05. Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No.2 'A London Symphony' (original 1913 version) [61'19]
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox
Chandos SACD CHSA5001 (recorded in December 2000; SACD/CD issued 2001)
(rip from SACD; 24bit/96kHz flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans)
Recorded venue: All Saints’ Church Tooting, London
Recording engineer: Ralph Couzens; Producer Brian Couzens
This was the first, and only, recording of the original 1913 version of Vaughan Williams' second symphony, with some 14 minutes more music than in the final published version made in the 1930s. (In between, there were two other revisions. The 1920 revision - the first published version - has also been recorded by Hyperion with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins.)
Although this recording has already appeared on many download sites, I have always been disappointed by the sound quality of both the 16bit and 24bit/96kHz digital downloads finding the sound rather flat and transferred at a low level which isn't improved by turning up the volume so that you are deafened by anything at forte or above. So I was delighted to hear the very much improved sound of this rip from SACD which I have converted to 24bit/96kHz flacs (not my rip - many thanks to the original uploader).
Having generally not been a great admirer of the late Richard Hickox, I must concede that he was an excellent interpreter of Vaughan William's music and the performance here is terrific - aided by Chandos' excellent recording revealed in this transfer.
Because of the large size of the files, I have posted them in a folder and you can select how many to download at one time.
Download from MEGA.