Symphony No. 2 'A London Symphony' (1920 version): Full Orchestra Score

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) wrote A London Symphony (also called Symphony No. 2, though never by the composer) between 1912 and 1913 at the prompting of his friend and fellow composer George Butterworth, to whose memory the work is dedicated. Premiering successfully on March 27, 1914 at Queen's Hall, Geoffrey Toye conducting, Vaughan Williams sent the score to conductor Fritz Busch in Germany, but it was lost during the chaos of World War I. Reconstructing the score from the parts with the help of Geoffrey Toye, Butterworth, and critic E. J. Dent, Vaughan Williams saw a second performance on February 11, 1915 by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra under the baton of Dan Godrey. Several revisions took place until the final version was published in 1936, resulting in three major versions, of which this 1920 revision is the middle. Vaughan Williams includes cues in the parts so that instruments can be omitted if necessary. Instrumentation: 3(2nd&3rd dPicc).2+EH.2+BCl.2+CBsn: 4.2+2Crnt.3.1: Timp.Perc(6): Hp(2): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).