THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
10, Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park,
London, N.W.1.

June 20th 1955

Dear Mr Vanhoesen¹

I am so glad you wrote.  I am not one of those people who pretend to be indifferent to praise, espescially² when it is embodied in a delightful letter like yours.  If my music has made a new friend, I shall be pleased, and perhaps we may meet personally if you ever come to London.

You write about phonograph recordings, besides my Symphonies, you may care to know that Job³, Flos Campi and the Lark Ascending⁴ have all been recorded in England; also Wenlock Edge⁵.  If I may give a word of confidential advice, do not have anything to do with the American recordings⁶ except the one of Flos Campi made by Cornell University⁷.

Yours sincerely,
R Vaughan Williams

1.  sic.
2.  sic.
3.  Job, Adrian Boult either with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1946) or with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1954).
4.  The Lark Ascending, either Malcolm Sargent, David Wise and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (1947) or Adrian Boult, Jean Pougnet and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1952).
5.  On Wenlock Edge, either Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten and the Zorian Quartet (1945) or George Maran, Ivor Newton and the London String Quartet (1955).
6.  Symphonies: no. 2 (London), Goossens, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (1941); no. 4, Stokowski, NBC Symphony Orchestra (1943); no. 5, Koussevitzky, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1947); no. 6, Stokowski, New York Philharmonic (1949).
7.  Concert hall Chamber Orchestra and the Cornell University A Cappella Chorus, with Francis Tursi (viola), issued by the Concert Hall Society label (CHS1151) in 1952.