Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. It was the first of his symphonies which Vaughan Williams numbered. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the premiere of the piece on 2 May 1956, with the Hallé Orchestra. The Eighth Symphony is the shortest of Vaughan Williams' nine symphonies, with a typical performance taking just under a half hour, yet it 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"
Symphony No. 5 (Vaughan Williams) PianoStaff « \new Staff \relative c' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \key g \major \tempo "Moderato" 4 = 80 r2 <fis d>4.\p( <e a,>8 | <fis d>4. <e a,>8 <fis d>2) } \new Staff \relative c { \clef bass \key g \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 <c c,>1~ | <c c,>2. s4 } » } </score> The violins however use the notes of the pentatonic scale, making the key ambiguous. Wilfrid Mellers believes this is why Vaughan Williams billed the movement as a Preludio, "which suggests an emergent state". The horn call motif fluctuates from major to minor, outlining the