Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) it with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, with the composer present in the Royal Box. Charles Munch conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of the work on 31 October 1957, at Symphony Hall. Ten more performances by the same team followed within three weeks in several cities. 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
Ralph Vaughan Williams the critic Andrew Achenbach, a neglected masterpiece. In addition to the music for "Scott of the Antarctic", Vaughan Williams composed incidental music for eleven other films, from "49th Parallel" (1941) to "The Vision of William Blake" (1957). By comparison with his output in other genres, Vaughan Williams's music for chamber ensembles and solo instruments forms a small part of his oeuvre. "Grove" lists twenty-four pieces under the heading "Chamber and instrumental"; three are early, unpublished works. Vaughan Williams, like most leading British 20th-century composers, was not drawn to the solo piano and wrote little for it. From his mature years,