Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams)

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Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. John Barbirolli conducted the premiere of the piece in 1956. It is the shortest of Vaughan Williams' nine symphonies yet 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" (as well as three tuned gongs, the same as were used in Puccini's Turandot), but the two central movements use only the wind section and string section respectively. The overall mood of the symphony is light-hearted, especially the finale, which is unusual in Vaughan Williams' output: the majority of his works end quietly.

Vaughan Williams did not number his symphonies as he composed them (he referred to them only by title or key) until the appearance of the Ninth, which is in the same key as the Sixth. At that point he assigned numbers to them, beginning with the F minor, in order to avoid confusion. The first three are as well known by their titles as by their numbers.

The work is in four movements:

1. Fantasia (Variazioni senza tema) (variations without a theme) - 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 well notice elements of sonata form.
2. Scherzo alla marcia (for wind instruments only) - this short, quick march (with trio) may strike the listener as being a parody of some of the mannerisms of the Russian composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, but its instrumentation, somewhat akin to that of a military band, is definitely British in style. The trio section revisits Vaughan Williams's "pastoral" style.
3. Cavatina (for bowed strings only) - This movement, in a five-part rondo form, has a very reflective, 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 (O Sacred Head, Now Wounded) that Bach used several times in the St. Matthew Passion and elsewhere.
4. Toccata - the finale (entitled Toccata to indicate its virtuoso nature) is difficult to perform yet quite light-hearted, with particularly exuberant writing for the percussion section at its heart. Harmonically, the movement seems uncertain of whether to be in D Minor or D Major.