THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Peaslake

27 June 1943

Dear Ralph

You may like to hear that one or two people thought it a lovely broadcast.¹ Everything seemed clear and well balanced, & I thought the orchestra played very finely: on the top of their form (which doesn’t often happen nowadays). I thought too that first things seemed foremost all the time which is a quiet achievement in broadcasting & it must have reached most listeners faithfully. It isn’t for me to judge compositions but Ann & I both feel that its serene loveliness is completely satisfying in these times & shows, as only music can, what we must work for when this madness is over.
I look forward to another performance & to the privilege of doing it myself sometime soon.
believe me,
Adrian

No answer of course

1.  The first performance of the Fifth Symphony on 24 June at the Royal Albert Hall conducted by VW.