Table of Contents

Prologue
1. First Encounters and A Sea Symphony
2. A London Symphony
3. A Pastoral Symphony and Boult on Conducting in the 1920s
4. Job: 'To Adrian Boult'
5. Symphony No. 4 in F minor
6. Wartime Tensions
7. Symphony No. 5 in D major
8. Symphony No. 6 in E minor
9. Sinfonia antartica and the Last Two Symphonies
10. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Other Orchestral Works
11. Choral and Vocal Works
12. Vaughan Williams, Boult and The Pilgrim's Progress

Appendix 1: Annotations on Boult's Working Scores
Appendix 2: Boult's Vaughan Williams Performances: A Chronology
Appendix 3: Discography
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

NIGEL SIMEONE is a scholar, writer and broadcaster specializing in twentieth-century music. He was editor of The Leonard Bernstein Letters (Yale, 2013) and for the Boydell Press has published Charles Mackerras with John Tyrrell (2015), The Janáček Compendium (2019) and most recently Ralph Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult (2022).

Reviews

Another new book Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult, by Nigel Simeone, analyses the crucial creative partnership Vaughan Williams had with Boult, who conducted the premieres of three of his symphonies, and recorded the first cycle of them. The collaboration continued posthumously: throughout the 1960s and 1970s Boult recorded and performed his friend's works, conducting his centenary concert in 1972. Simeone's achievement is to have analysed the scores Boult used when conducting, and the annotations he added following conversations with the composer.
*The Telegraph*

In Simeone's hands, Boult's commitment to his composer and Vaughan Williams' rugged, self-deprecating character tell an enormously valuable story
*Sir Mark Elder, conductor*

It is the revelation of the interaction between these two towering figures in British music that makes this such an important book
*Sir Andrew Davis, conductor*

[T]he much-respected musicologist Nigel Simeone has provided a definitive account of the relationship between the two men which throws much light on their working practices. One might have thought that such an examination had appeared before, but ... the level of attention and scholarship given here is unprecedented.... Simeone's is perhaps one of the most valuable books on the composer to appear in some time.... It goes without saying that any admirer of Vaughan Williams should have Simeone's study on their shelves; his reserves of insight and elegantly expressed enthusiasm are to be found in abundance here.
*Classical CD Choice*

Simeone's exploration of the intensely nourishing relationship between these two giants of British music-and Boult's characteristically selfless dedication and steadfast commitment to this repertoire right to the end [...]-makes for consistently absorbing reading. As an unabashed RVW/Boult obsessive, I devoured this book and unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone of a similar mindset.
*Gramophone*

Well written and eminently readable, this book will take its place on the shelf of classic Vaughan Williams literature.
*Fontes Artis Musicae*

What a pleasure to have this lovingly detailed portrait of two giants of twentieth-century English music!
*NOTES*